When BitBeasts Show Their Claws
by Zeionia aka Disturbed
Summary: BladeBreakers have begun developing mutant abilities. One by one they make their way to the Xavier Institute where they begin to grasp their new powers. But not everything is as simple as it seems, especially when Wolverine finds Kai half-dead in a cave.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-men: Evolution. Each show belongs to its respective owner(s).

Chapter 1: The Fifteen Hour Nap

Max didn't move a muscle as the taxi slowed to a crawl and then stopped. He slept on as the driver got out of the car and rang the doorbell of the mansion. He remained unconscious when he was lifted surreptitiously from the back seat and carried into the building. He didn't wake until later that evening after the sun had set; even then, he was barely aware of what was going on around him—not until a man in wheelchair entered the room.

The flight to New York had been a tedious affair and Max's energy was running low. The taxi driver, when he first saw Max, gave him a blanket and told him to lie down in the backseat. The boy went to sleep immediately, despite the five hour nap he had just taken on the plane.

The taxi stopped once for gas and the driver told Max to go inside and buy some food and an energy drink. Max did as he was told; his body was running on auto-pilot. After the stop, the boy had slept the entire trip. The taxi driver took it upon himself to make sure that Max was in safe hands before he left. At least, the later part was what the Professor had told him.

Professor Charles Xavier, the head of the Xavier Institution for Gifted Children—the mutant school. Max's face betrayed nothing as he studied the man in the wheelchair even his thoughts remained bland. He was merely noting facts to recall at a later time when he wasn't in the presence of a famous mind reader.

The professor was the first one to speak.

"Max, welcome to the Xavier Institution. I certainly hope you are feeling better?"

"Absolutely! A…" Max checked his watch "…fifteen hour nap was exactly what I needed. Is this my room or am I just in here because it was closest to the driveway?"

Max was back to his chipper self, or at least he was acting like it. The professor couldn't detect anything wrong with the boy and responded quickly to the mass of questions he was spouting off.

Yes it was his room. No, dinner was over, but the professor could have something brought up. Max would be able to meet the other students in the morning. They would have to put in an order for mustard. No his mother hadn't explained the specifics of Max's mutation—they would talk about that later.

"Do you have a beydish?" asked Max that was his most pressing question. Except for "Does anyone here know how to beyblade?"

The professor didn't really keep up with the new sport Beyblade. His students knew plenty about it, right now it was all the rage, and had begged him to install a beydish. Xavier thought that several students had beyblades and knew enough to have fairly interesting beybattles. Max would have had jumped for joy had he not been sitting in a bed.

"I'm finished asking questions right now," he said.

Xavier smiled at the boy. "Good. I'll send up Ororo with some food, she'll be one of your teachers here. I'll speak with you again in the morning."

"Awesome."

Xavier wheeled himself out of the room and took a hidden elevator down to the first floor. Storm, Beast, and Wolverine were waiting for him in the kitchen.

"Is the kid up yet?" asked Logan.

Xavier nodded. "He is awake. Ororo, when you have a moment would you take him some dinner."

"I'll do that right now," said Storm.

As Storm prepared a tray. Xavier outlined his brief conversation with the boy.

"It seems that he is fine now. Do you think whatever ailed him this afternoon has passed? Or do you fear that is unexplained weakness has something to do with mutation?" Hank asked bluntly.

"I don't know what to think," said Xavier. "His mother wasn't very clear about the specifics of his mutation. I don't know what could have made him so tired."

"Let us hope it is nothing a little food and rest can't cure," said Storm as she walked out of the room.

"All the same," said Xavier. "I would like you to take a look at him in the morning. Just to be on the safe side."

"Of course," said Beast. "I think I shall retire for the evening if neither of you mind." He paused. "Good night then."

"I'm going to bed too," said Logan. "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight Logan."

Xavier sat alone in the kitchen thinking about the newest student at the Xavier institute. Something seemed unusual about Max, but then Xavier did live in a school full of mutant children. The professor turned to leave the room and stopped to look at the light switch on the opposite wall. He flipped off the lights and wheeled himself out of the kitchen.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-men: Evolution. Each show belongs to its respective owner(s).

Chapter 2: Pancakes with Mustard

The alarm beside Max's bed went off at six thirty, but he wasn't there to hear it. An hour earlier Max's eyes had popped open as his internal alarm screamed at him to wake up. He had found his suitcase beneath his bed and discovered someone had unpacked his clothes for him the night before. Everything else was still in his suitcase.

Max looked down at his crumpled clothes and realized he had slept in them all night long—his mother would have killed him if she knew. Max grabbed his towel, soap, toothbrush, and a change of spare clothes and went to find the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later Max was clean, dressed in fresh clothes, and ready for breakfast.

But first he had to find the kitchen…

Logan walked into the kitchen. He had woken up at six to have a peaceful breakfast. The coffee machine burbled happily at him. His nose twitched, someone had made **strong** coffee and pancakes.

"You must be Max," said Logan. No one else would be awake right now.

"Yeah. I'm Max Mizuharu. Do you like pancakes? The coffee is a wee bit strong, but there's plenty if you want some."

Logan pulled a coffee mug off a nearby shelf and poured himself a cup. Next, he took a plate out of the cupboard and a fork from a drawer. He sat down across from Max and took a few pancakes off a large stack on the lazy-susan. He carefully drizzled maple syrup on the smaller stack in front of him then put a large dollop of whipped cream on the top. Logan knew how to eat pancakes.

"The name's Logan. What are you doing up this early?"

Max swallowed a glob of half-chewed pancake and took a sip of coffee.

"I woke up at five-thirty and took a shower. Then I found the kitchen, and made pancakes and coffee."

Logan finished eating his first pancake before speaking again.

"Why?"

Max took another sip of coffee.

"Because I always wake up early. I make coffee and breakfast for my mom; after that I go practice with Draciel for an hour or so; and then I go to school."

"Who's Draciel?"

"Draciel is my beyblade."

Max didn't think that Logan would appreciate the idea of a bit-beast. The two of them continued eating in silence. Wolverine looked at the boy across from him. Max was eating his fourth pancake; it was covered in something white.

"What is that?"

"What is what?"

"On your pancake."

"It's mustard."

"It doesn't look like mustard."

"It's Japanese mustard."

"Why are you eating Japanese mustard with your pancakes?"

"Mustard goes on everything."

Logan paused. He tapped a previously untouched pancake on the lazy-susan with his fork.

"Put some on this."

Max took the bottle of mustard from beside him and squeezed some on the pancake. With a deft hand and fork, Logan tweaked the pancake onto his plate. Cautiously, he took a bite. It wasn't at all like Logan had expected. He quickly finished the mustard-covered pancake.

"Well?" asked Max.

"Not bad," said Logan. "But I prefer maple syrup."

"Each to his own," agreed Max.

Max set his fork down on the plate and took it, along with his coffee mug, over to the sink. He rinsed the mustard off the plate and swirled a little water around in the mug to clean out the coffee dregs.

Max looked at the dishwasher. It had a magnet on it. The magnet had a little hand with a thumb point at clean, and on the opposite dirty. The magnet was on thumbs-up: clean. Max left his dirty dishes in the sink and proceeded to unload the dishwasher. That task completed, he put his fork, plate, and mug into the dishwasher and switched the magnet so that it was thumbs-down: dirty.

He looked around. Logan was staring at him with his mouth hanging open. Max shrugged and considered the stove. There was still some pancake batter left…

Max took the final pancake and put it in a big silver pot—he had found the pot in a cabinet when he was putting up the dishes—and closed the lid. Spying a writing pad and tape on a nearby counter, he wrote "pancakes" in big bold letters and taped it to the pot. He then rinsed off his cooking utensils and put them in the dishwasher too.

"See you later," said Max.

"Where are you going?" asked Logan.

"Outside. I think I'm going to do a few laps around the Institute before I start practicing."

"Holler if you need anything."

"Sure."

With that said, Max was out the door. Logan shook his head. There was no way that that was a normal teenage boy. But surely that couldn't have been why his mother had sent the boy here.

"With a kid like that I would never have to wake up early again."

As Max jogged around the mansion, his mind was working overtime. He had started developing symptoms of his mutation nearly three months ago, right at the beginning of summer. About that time he had stopped talking to Tyson and Ray regularly, and his tenuous contact with Kai shattered. Then too, Draciel's power had started increasing rapidly.

Maybe his mutation had something to do with his bit-beast's power surge. And, if it was happening to him, it was probably happening to the guys too. That would be why Ray and Tyson didn't call or write except sporadically, they would be too busy trying to control their new powers along with those of their bit-beasts. And Kai…

Kai would probably have mastered his new powers in two weeks and known about the eventuality of their development years ahead of time. Kai knew about things like that.

"How does Kai know about things that?" Max asked himself aloud.

Not that he hadn't asked himself before. In fact, he, Tyson and Ray had had several enthusiastic conference calls on the subject. How did Kai so much about bit-beasts and beyblades?

"Biovolt probably had something to do with," Max told himself. "Biovolt and Voltaire. Kai probably had some freaky experiments done to him just like Tala. He probably had worse ones done to him than Tala. Voltaire is a jerk."

Max finished his laps and went in search of the beydish. The professor had said it was somewhere on the grounds near the mansion.

Inside things were getting pretty hectic. Logan had managed to escape the kitchen before a tide of students rushed in and discovered pancakes. Rogue and Kitty found the coffee—the only students, besides Max, to drink coffee black—both of them had loved it. There were enough pancakes for everyone, including teachers. It was a pleasant surprise for everyone.

"Logan, have you seen Max? I sent Scott to his room, but it was empty," explained the professor.

"Yeah. He's outside practicing with his beyblade. I tell you, it was a real surprise to find a student who was up earlier than me."

"Really? What was he doing up so early?"

Logan chuckled. "Making pancakes, fixing coffee, and putting up the clean dishes if you can believe it."

"How interesting. Do you mind taking him down to Hank? Along with a plate of pancakes?"

"Not at all."

Logan headed outside and walked to the newly installed beydish. The nearer he got the more clearly he could hear sounds of whirring gears and spinning tops. He ducked as a can flew at his head.

"Sorry!" said Max.

Logan looked up in time to a green beyblade fly into Max's hand. There were cans scattered across the area. He knew some of the students used them to practice dodging obstacles and hitting targets. He looked closer, the beydish looked a little worse for the wear and so did a lot of the trees. Max finished collecting the spread out cans and tossed them in a bin by the small pavilion.

"What are you doing here?" asked Max.

"Charles wants you to see Hank, Dr. McCoy, to make sure whatever kept you asleep for fifteen hours doesn't keep you asleep permanently."

"Really?"

"It's what he meant."

"I see." Max didn't sound particularly bothered. "Lead on then."

Logan took Max inside and down to the first sublevel of the school. As the doors slid open to the Beast's lair, he considered warning Max about what was to come, then decided not to spoil the surprise.

The first thing Max saw was a white lab coat. Then Beast turned around and Max saw a blue hairy front, a notepad, and a pair of glasses. Max blinked. Beast expected a yell. Wolverine didn't know what to think.

"Hi, I'm Max Mizuharu. You, I must assume, are Dr. Hank McCoy. Logan said you were going to run some tests. He was very morbid about it. Do you like being blue? Can you dye your hair orange or something if you want a change of pace?"

Hank blinked. "I would rather be blue than orange."

"Perfectly understandable," said Max.

"Charles sends pancakes."

Logan held out the plate covered by aluminum foil. He had left them on a coffee table in a living before going to get Max and had picked them up on the way back in. Hank took the proffered plate and placed it on a nearby table.

"Who made the pancakes?"

"I did!" said Max.

"Really?" asked Hank. "Marvelous, I love pancakes. Hop up on that table over there."

Max sat down. Hank turned to Logan.

"I thought you didn't normally tell students what I look like," he said.

"I didn't," Logan replied. "That's one for the record books."

"Indeed. I'll give him a thorough check-up. It should last about thirty minutes."

Logan nodded. "I'll let Charles know."

Max watched the pair talking with interest. So some mutations were physical. If Ray showed up, Max wondered what they would think of his eyes, and teeth. When Ray showed up, Max corrected himself mentally. He had no doubt the other BladeBreakers were going to end up here too.

--

Notes:

1. I haven't watched Beyblade since it stopped airing on ABC Family, so I don't remember every little detail. The same applies to X-men Evolution except the station is Cartoon Network.

2. If you see a beyblade attack you are unfamiliar with, I probably made it up for the specific reason specified above (How's that for redundant?) or for the purposes of dramatizing the beybladers' mutations.

3. I apologize for the misspelling of any people, places, or bit-beasts. As I said before, I can't watch the shows.

4. If you see any errors that will drive you insane until I fix them, please point them out. I do not enjoy writing inaccurate fan-fiction. (There's a contradiction for you.)

5. As the story progresses, more notes will follow.

6. Please bear with me as I work all the kinks out of this story. Thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-men: Evolution. Each show belongs to its respective owner(s).

Chapter 3: After-School Activities

His first weekend at the Institute was pleasant for Max. He had arrived Friday evening and spent the next two days getting acquainted with the other students and the grounds. Scott and Bobby both insisted that they had seen Max before, but neither boy could remember where or when. All-too-soon Monday arrived, and that meant school and after school sports.

"It's a new policy," explained Kurt. "The school board thinks we don't get enough exercise, so this year they added a mandatory after-school activity to the schedule."

"What's it like?" asked Max.

"It's actually really fun. I've met people that I would never considered talking to before. I'm on the instructional lacrosse roll."

"Whoa."

Max wondered if the school board considered beyblading an athletic roll. Probably not, if you weren't into the sport you could understand how physically tiring it could be. Besides, if he signed up with the beyblading team they would definitely know who he was and that would mean paparazzi for the mutant beyblader.

Scott pulled the car up in front of the school and everyone stumbled out. Kurt pointed him in the direction of the office and then headed to class. Max went to find out his class schedule.

"What are your classes?" Kitty asked at lunch.

He, Kitty, and Kurt were all sophomores and shared the same lunch period. Max pulled a schedule card out of his pocket and handed it to her. Kurt and Kitty scanned it.

"You have first period French with me," said Kurt. "And third period art. Rogue is in both of those classes too."

"We have the same fifth period English," added Kitty. "But that's it. You signed up for Tae Kwon Doe? I think Bobby is doing that after-school. Lance too, if he shows up that is. Whoa! Look at these maths and sciences, even Jean didn't take these her senior year!"

"Who's Lance?" asked Max. Max did not enjoy people talking about his advance classes. He couldn't help that his mom was a scientist.

"One of the Brotherhood," said Kurt. "He would be Kitty's boyfriend if that wasn't fraternizing with the enemy."

Max waited for further explanation.

"The Brotherhood is a bunch of juvenile mutants who go to this school who aren't X-men. They work for Mystique who used to work for Magneto who is an evil man who wants to wage war against all normal humans. We run into them every once in awhile."

"I see. Which them would that be?"

"Usually the Brotherhood being hoodlums, sometimes Mystique directing the Brotherhood, rarely Magneto ordering the Acolytes."

Max rolled his eyes. Didn't anyone know how to hit the details quickly anymore? He listened patiently through Kurt's explanation. Kitty threw in a comment or two every once and awhile. Then the bell rang and it was time for fifth period.

School finished at three-thirty; then it was time for after-school sport. Max put away his books—he had finished his homework during his free period—and went to the front steps. The school didn't have a fixed location for the club so Tae Kwon Doe met wherever there was room. Usually that room was on the front steps of the school.

Coach Clark was the faculty sponsor for Tae Kwon Doe. He introduced Max to the other students and then began reviewing the basics.

There were about twenty other students besides Max. He saw Bobby and moved to stand next to the other boy. Glancing around Max spied a boy who was do his best to pretend he was uninterested in the coach's talk. That was probably Lance.

"So you see Max, you haven't missed anything. This is only our second real meeting," said Coach Clark. "Do you know anything about Tae Kwon Doe?"

Max tried to remember anything Ray had said about the martial arts style. "My friend told me it was a foundation for more advanced techniques."

Max's subconscious came through for him again. Unfortunately, his newfound mutation wasn't so reliable.

A rumbling beneath their feet made the Tae Kwon Doe club look down. Bobby stared accusingly at Lance, but the other mutant shook his head. He wasn't moving the ground. Max's face flushed crimson as a water main burst underground. Pressure forced the water upwards until it spewed from the sidewalk in front of the school.

Instead of washing down the street, the water continued to spray upwards. Bobby saw Max put a hand to his mouth, covering a look of horror. The jet of water formed into a cyclone and began moving towards the building.

The students scattered. Bobby made sure everyone no one could see him then froze the cyclone mere inches from the front steps.

"I think it would be a good idea to go back to the Institute," said Bobby quietly. "Let's go find the others."

Bobby grabbed Max's hand and started pulling him around to the back of the school. Max eyed the frozen cyclone carefully, something wasn't quite right about it.

"Holy crap!"

Max pushed Bobby to the ground as the water-spout exploded. Ice shards broke the window panes and shredded any nearby trees. Both boys raised their heads to stare at the destruction. Even the brickwork had suffered the force of the exploding ice. Brick and mortar lay scattered the front of the school building. Max and Bobby exchanged glances and ran to find an adult. Water cyclones were one thing. Exploding, frozen cyclones were something else entirely.

At the Institute Max and Bobby were quietly reciting what had happened to the professor and other teachers. Scott and Jean were listening too. After the story, Xavier dismissed Bobby and regarded Max carefully.

"Does this happen often?"

"Three times now but first two weren't so powerful and neither of them exploded. Am I in trouble?"

"Did you summon the water-spout on purpose?" asked Storm.

Max stared at her. "No. I don't even know how to make them!"

"Then you are not in trouble," said Xavier. "What else has happened that you don't know how to control?"

"Three water cyclones, nine flash floods, two tsunamis, seven indoor rain showers, and one very, very large sinkhole."

"How large?" asked the professor.

"Sixty-two feet in diameter," said Max. "I don't want think about how that may have happened."

"How do you know you're the one causing these accidents?" asked Jean. "If you can't control your powers?"

Max shrugged. He had asked himself that same question hundreds of times. He honestly couldn't explain how he was doing anything, but then, he couldn't explain how he could work with his bit-beast either. Max did not elaborate on his shrug except with "I don't know how, but I know."

Xavier let Max leave and turned to the other X-men.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"It's strange," said Jean. "It seemed like he was hiding something, but I couldn't tell what it was."

"Neither could I," agreed Xavier.

The X-men started. Scott and Logan had mirror expressions of concern on their faces. Ororo looked confused. And Jean obviously wanted to know the reason.

"It is difficult for me to read Max Mizuharu's mind. It is as if there is another consciousness mixed with his. I very much doubt he has a split personality or that he is being possessed. This other consciousness surrounds Max like an aura rather than another mind inhabiting his body. I find it strange and difficult to focus on."

Logan snorted. "If he suddenly turns psychotic, at least we'll know why."

"Indeed," Xavier agreed. "But I have other news. Another student is supposed to arrive on Thursday. His name is Ray Kon."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-men: Evolution. Each show belongs to its respective owner(s).

Chapter 4: Welcome Ray

"Where are we going Logan?" asked Kitty.

Thursday afternoon, Wolverine found Kitty and Max in the common room watching the five o'clock news. Max looked unhappy but had refused to say what was wrong. Logan got them both get the jeep and decided not to worry about it.

"The train station."

"Really? Are we getting another new student?"

"Yeah."

"Who is it?"

"His name's Ray Kon."

Max started in the back seat. It couldn't be Ray. Well actually, it could. But he hadn't really thought it would be so soon.

"Where's he from?" Max heard himself ask.

Logan grunted. "Charles didn't say. Why?"

"I know a Ray Kon."

Logan exchanged a glance with Kitty in the front seat. If he was the same Ray, that would be an unusual coincidence. Especially with the both of them coming to the Institute at the same time.

"Really, where's your friend from?" asked Kitty.

"China."

Kitty was excited. How did Max know someone from China? Was he cute? Did Max know that the Institute accepted international students? Could he be the same person?

Max told her that he was on the same beyblading team as Ray. That was the only question he had time to answer before Logan parked the jeep. The three of them walked to the train platform. It was already unloading passengers. Max scanned the crowd.

"_Hey Ray!"_ Max called.

"_Max! What are you doing here?_"

The Chinese beyblader made his way over to them. Max and Ray shook hands and kept talking. Kitty tugged at Logan's shirt.

"What language are they speaking?" she asked.

"Japanese," said Logan. "Apparently they know each other."

"Logan, Kitty, this is Ray Kon. Ray, this is Logan and Kitty."

"Hi!" said Ray. "I'm still learning English so would you talk slowly, please?"

Kitty slapped her hand to her forehead. The three men exchanged glances. Max and Ray had a feeling of what was coming next.

"I can't believe it!" she said. "You guys are the Blade Breakers! None of us even noticed. I feel like such an idiot."

"It's no big deal," said Max. "Just don't say it too loud."

"Bad news for beybladers," added Ray. "A big headline: _World Famous Blade Breakers—Mutants! The BBA's Big Secret!_ It would be huge scandal."

"I see," said Logan.

Even _he_ had heard of the Blade Breakers. The team had a three year winning streak and was one of the most diverse teams in the league. It would be the kind of story journalists would give their souls to report.

"_Ray, did you hear about Voltaire?"_ asked Max in the backseat of the jeep.

Ray shook his head. _"What's the old man done now?"_

"_He's been hospitalized."_

"_What! Why?"_

"_I saw it on the evening news. He apparently had a heart attack. A member of the cleaning staff at the hotel found him around eleven this morning. But the real problem is that no one can find Kai and he's Voltaire's only next-of-kin."_

"_No one? I mean I stopped talking to Kai a little while after this started happening, but surely there must be some way to reach him."_

Max laughed and Ray frowned. They both knew there was no way to find Kai if the boy didn't want to be found. Maybe Voltaire knew where his grandson was, but he was in a coma in a hospital in Moscow. He was not the most easily accessible person at the moment.

Kitty quizzed Ray about his likes and dislikes. Then she grilled Max for not telling them he was a BladeBreaker. As Logan pulled the jeep into the Institute, Kitty asked if they would have a beyblade match for everyone later.

"Let the kid settle in first," Logan said with slight rebuff.

Kitty huffed and crossed her arms. Ray took his bags out of the back of the jeep and stood awkwardly on the front steps. Logan told Max to take Ray to the professor's office then take his bags up to Max's room. They would probably be roommates.

Max and Ray walked into the house talking animatedly in Japanese. Kitty hurried after them. She had the air of a girl ready to gossip. Logan followed them more slowly; he was thinking and thinking hard.

Two beybladers from the same team suddenly developing mutations couldn't be a coincidence. Logan hurried up to his room and pulled some recent sports sections from the stacks of papers he had lining the walls. Where was the beyblading section?

The Blade Breakers were the most powerful beybladers since the sport started. Max Mizuharu, Ray Kon, Tyson Granger, and Kai Hiwatari were the original four. Another boy, Daichi, joined them the previous year. Logan looked at the specs on Max and Ray.

Max controlled the bit-beast Draciel. Draciel had basically water-type attacks and was stronger in defense. Max was also a sometimes member of the American team the All-Stars. Ray controlled the bit-beast Drigger. Drigger used lightning attacks and was known for its speed. Ray was also a sometimes member of the Chinese team White Tiger X. Both boys were among the best beybladers.

"I wonder…Nah."

--

End.

As with most fanfiction, this story will progress at a quick clip with a handful of convenient plot devices. I know. I dislike them too, but this is the only way it can ever be finished.

In exchange for this super short chapter, the next one will be twice as long. Yay!

Thank you everyone who has reviewed. It's very motivating to see such responses so early on.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-men: Evolution. Each show belongs to its respective owner(s).

Chapter Five: Strike Lightning! Crash Wave!

Though it usually was not done, placing two new students together, the professor decided to let Ray and Max to share a room. As a result, Max and Ray stayed up late talking. That did not stop either of them from waking up an hour before the alarm again, though Ray was decidedly less talkative than Max so early in the morning.

After his first day at the Institute, Max had decided that making breakfast every morning could get old. He limited his kitchen duties to making coffee. He would eat when everyone else did.

While they were waiting for everyone else to start moving, but after they had had their coffee, Max and Ray went for a run. They continued their discussion from the night before as Ray worked on his English.

"Tyson will be here in a week or so," said the Chinese beyblader. "I am… certainly?"

"Certain," corrected Max. "Why do you think it will be so soon?"

Ray shrugged. "Just a feeling. Are you sure this is connected to our bit-beasts?"

Max nodded. He had given it a lot of thought and collected as much data as he could. There was very little doubt in his mind.

"Why are we the only ones affected?" asked Ray. "Shouldn't others have the same problem?"

"Why does anything happen to just us?" replied Max. He grinned roguishly. "We're the Blade Breakers."

Ray laughed. "That explains everything."

They continued the run and talked about less serious matters. Max showed Ray the beydish, and the pair practiced for another hour before finally heading inside.

Logan was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee on the counter and his head buried inside the newspaper. He grunted as Ray and Max entered.

Ray frowned at this form of recognition. The Chinese boy glanced at his American friend. Max shrugged then touched his nose and ears. Ray nodded once, gave a final summary glance to Logan, and pulled the milk out of the refrigerator.

Logan discreetly watched this whole exchange over the top of his newspaper and wondered what it meant. He finally decided he didn't need to know and folded the paper down. He made his own breakfast of cereal, the same as the two boys, and sat with them as the rest of the X-men wandered down to the kitchen.

"I just don't understand how you two can wake up so early," said Kitty. "I mean, come on, and with jet lag too?"

"I sleep lightly," explained Ray, "and Max was getting up to practice."

"Practice?" asked Kurt. "Practice what?"

Ray stared at him in puzzlement. He was having a hard time with the accent. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Kitty answered for him.

"Kurt! How did I not tell you?" asked the talkative girl. "They from the Blade Breakers! They practice with their beyblades!"

"What!" exclaimed Nightcrawler. He smacked himself on the forehead. It made his hologram twitch for an instant, and Max and Ray were amused to see his real form. They had been warned by Kitty. "Am I blind? Why didn't I notice?"

"How did you not hear Kitty talking about it?" demanded Rogue. "I had to listen to her all night long."

Max and Ray exchanged wary glances. So far, the mutants didn't seem to be making a huge deal out of their celebrity. Maybe the BBA would get off easily when the word got out to the press…and maybe pigs would fly.

Xavier wheeled into the room to a chorus of happy and/or semi-conscious "good-mornings." His arrival signaled the time for the students to leave for their formal education. There was a mad rush to the sink to drop off dishes. Then everyone left to find rides. Almost everyone. Ray was still sitting at the table, waiting for instruction it appeared.

"Today, I would like you to stay here," explained the Professor. "We still need to settle some paper work before you can go to school. You will also need to adjust to the time change. If you're finished, we'll have Dr. McCoy give you a check up."

The Chinese beyblader jumped up, put his dirty cereal bowl in the sink, and followed the man in the wheel chair down the hall.

The mansion was full of surprises. Ray was not expecting the hidden elevator or the lower levels, but he decided few people probably did. Neither was he expecting a large, blue, fuzzy man to drop from the ceiling. He hid his surprise admirably.

"These beybladers seem to be made of sterner stuff than the other new students," said the fuzzy, blue man. He sounded regretful to Ray's ears. "Mr. Mizuharu was not surprised either."

"I was surprised," Ray assured him. "But surprise is not always best to show. In a match, surprise gives opponents lead."

The man nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. Excellent point." He seemed happier already.

Ray laughed. "Tyson will…freak out when he sees you. It will be very funny."

"Who is Tyson?" asked the blue man. "Is there another new student?" This last question was directed at the Professor.

"No Hank," said Xavier. "Not yet anyway. Why do you think Tyson will come to the institute Ray? I assume you mean Tyson Granger."

Ray nodded then paused. He had probably given away too much information, but he was not suspicious like Kai. These people certainly weren't trying to steal his bit-beast.

"Tyson is a member of the Blade Breakers," he explained to the blue man. "Max and I are here already. Tyson will come next. Kai will come when he wants to or forced to. We are the Blade Breakers. Stuff happens. Though usually, it happens to Tyson first."

The Professor looked deep in thought. He left Ray with Beast and returned to his office to do some research.

"Well, I am Dr. Charles McCoy," said the blue man. "Let's get to that check up."

Ray nodded and hopped up on the bed. First came the usual round of doctor questions. How are you feeling? His file showed his immunization shots were up to date. Does anything hurt? Then the cold stethoscope on the chest and back. Dr. McCoy measured Ray's weight and height and took a blood sample. Finally came a round of not so usual questions.

"Are your eyes part of your mutation, or do you wear contacts?" asked Hank.

Ray was confused. "No," he said slowly.

"No to which?" asked the doc.

"My eyes are always like this," explained Ray. "All eyes of White Tiger X are this way."

Now Beast was confused. "What is White Tiger X?"

"My other beyblade team. When I do noy beyblade with the Blade Breakers, I am a member of the team from my village."

"Your_ village_?" Beast emphasized the last word.

"My village in China."

"And people there have eyes like this?"

"Yes, White Tiger X, elder, lots of people."

"So your eyes have nothing to do with your mutation?"

"No."

Ray privately thought the conversation was going around in circles. He wondered if something was being lost in translation. Beast was apparently thinking the same thing.

"Do you have any other abnormalities that are not linked to your mutation?" he asked.

Ray paused for a moment. "I hear clearly than others, I see better too, have better reflexes, and smell better than most. Gary smells best though. He can find food by smell."

The doctor didn't even try to correct his English. "And this has nothing to do with your mutation? Or the mutation that brought you here?

Here we go again, thought Ray. "No."

"How strange," said Dr. McCoy. "Well, I think you're done here. Do you know how to get back to the elevator?"

Ray nodded.

"Well, then, off you go," said the blue man.

Ray left the infirmary and found the elevator. He was wandering around upstairs considering a nap, when the professor wheeled up to him.

"Ray, I have some things to discuss with you," said Xavier quietly.

"Okay, professor," said Ray.

They went to Xavier's office. The professor waited until Ray was seated comfortably before beginning.

"Hank, Dr. McCoy, tells me you have another mutation beside the one that brought you here. It has something to with your eyes."

Ray bit his lip with a sharpened tooth in an effort not to roll aforementioned eyes.

"Please let me explain things," said Ray. "I am a…cat-person. I have eyes, ears, teeth, nose, and sometimes claws like a cat. This is not…uncommon in my village. My friends are same as me."

The professor nodded. He could see it now—the golden eyes, the slightly pointed ears, and the extra sharp teeth.

"This doesn't cause you any problems?" asked the professor.

"No," Ray shook his head. "I am here because of lightning."

"Your village elder mentioned lightning when he called me," said the professor. "What exactly is happening?"

"Lightning appears where none should be. Even if there are no clouds in the sky," explained Ray.

Professor Xavier frowned. While Max's problem was impressive, it was significantly easier to avoid than sporadic bursts of lightning. Both mutations seemed to fall under Storm's umbrella of control. She would probably need to tutor the pair.

"I see. I think I'll arrange some lessons with Miss Munroe later. Now, on a different matter, the packet Mr. Dickenson faxed me contained a complete medical record, but it didn't have any school forms. Did he give you those?"

Ray's eyes grew wide. Oh. Well, that was a rather embarrassing problem. He had never considered this problem before.

"I do not go to school," he explained. "We learned characters and math as children, but there is no school in my village. When I left, I focused on beyblading. I learned spoken Japanese and English and written Japanese in order to beyblade internationally and I am learning written English and spoken Russian. But, still no school."

Ray could not interpret Professor Xavier's expression. He had either admitted to a very bad thing or a very good thing. He began to fidget in his seat when the silence dragged on. He stuck his hand into his pocket and grabbed Drigger. The contact with his beyblade soothed him. Xavier was not going to throw him out just because Ray had never been to school before. He was here to learn how to control his lightning.

"I will teach you here until you can enter school at your friend's level," said the professor. "I don't expect it will take long. You seem to catch on to things quickly. Do you have any questions for me?"

Ray shook his head.

"Then you may leave," said Xavier.

Ray left the professor's office. A dark-skinned woman standing near the door studied him curiously for a moment then smiled at him and walked inside. He sighed. He was stuck here with no one to talk to until Max got back. He didn't want to take a nap despite the twelve-hour time difference. For some reason, he was coursing with energy. Ray headed outside to the practice dish.

"Well Drigger," he said cheerily. "It looks like you and I will get lots of practice in today."

The bit of his beyblade glowed joyfully. Fully occupied with his beyblade, Ray was surprised to be knocked down by the woman he had seen earlier. A bolt of lightning struck where he was just standing. The woman pushed herself up and held a hand out to Ray.

"I understand you are Ray Kon," said the woman.

"Yeah." Ray nodded and grabbed her hand.

The woman helped pull him up. She gave him a once over with her eyes as if she was measuring his worth. "I am Ororo Munroe or, as I am called by the X-men, Storm. I think you and I will be spending a lot of time together."

--

Max was very sympathetic when Ray told him what happened. Getting knocked to the ground by a small African woman had to be embarrassing. Max's sympathy earned him a knock on the head. The pair decided to put off their beybattle until the next afternoon then Max promptly went to bed.

Ray stared after the other beyblader as he left. It was only six thirty in the evening. But if Max said he needed to sleep, Ray wasn't going to stop him.

Of course, this left Ray alone with a house full of teenagers who didn't speak Chinese or Japanese or sometimes English. Slang was still a bit beyond his skills, as were accents.

"Once more please," said Ray.

Kitty huffed and rolled her eyes. Talking the beyblader was proving harder than she thought.

"So, like, this guy gets out of his car and its, like, one of those, you know, kind of cars, and he struts over like he's the man and—

"I thought you said he was a man," asked Ray.

"Well, yeah, he's _a_ man but not _the_ man," said Kitty, "like listen to the articles."

Ray shook his head. He somehow had the impression this story would end up like one of Mariah's annoying rants about guys. He tried to listened to Kitty but could barely concentrate for the roaring sound in his ears.

His head snapped up. Ray held up a hand to quiet the talkative girl. "Do you hear sound?" he asked.

"Sound?" asked Kitty. "Of course I hear sound. Like, what else would I hear?"

Ray rolled his eyes. He could speak Russian better than he could speak English. To hell with articles.

"Wait," said Kitty. "What's that sound? Oh… Yeah, I can hear that."

The noise was now significantly louder. Searching for the source, Ray glanced at the hall. He gasped. A wave of water poured down the hallway. All at once, it burst out of the doors and into the common room.

Ray didn't remember moving. One moment he was sitting next to Kitty on the couch, the next he was clinging to the wall as a wave of water lapped at his feet.

The water disappeared almost as quickly as it came. Various pieces of furniture—and various students—were spread throughout the den. Xavier and the other teachers entered the room.

"Is everyone alright?" asked the professor.

"Except for the fact I nearly drowned, I think I'm okay," drawled Rogue. Her make-up was a pale, watery smear.

The other students echoed her sentiments. All of them, barring Kurt, who had teleported away at the first sign of water, and Ray, who was still firmly attached to the wall, were thoroughly soaked. Once Ray assured himself that the water would not be coming back, he released his grip on the wall and jumped nimbly to the ground.

"Well, the cat-boy seems to be okay," said Logan. "Not to sure about the wall."

Ray looked up. There were several deep claw marks in the formerly smooth wall.

"How'd you get up there so fast anyway?" asked Rogue. "One minute you were listenin' to Kitty's yammerin', and th nex' you were hangin' with th' drapes."

"Rogue! I don't yammer!" was Kitty's faint protest.

Ray looked decidedly embarrassed. "I did not want to feel real Gravity Control, so I ran up wall to avoid. Pointless. Gravity Control would have knocked out walls."

The X-men looked confused. Ray wondered if he had misspoken.

"Wait, you can control gravity?" asked Kurt.

Ray eyes widened. He understood the problem now. "No, no, no. Draciel has attack Gravity Control, huge wall of water, very strong, hard to dodge. Gravity Control."

"Where is Mr. Mizuharu?"

"Max is sleeping," explained Ray.

"The water did appear to come down the stairs," said Dr. McCoy. "Perhaps it would be best for someone to check on young Max."

"Logan, if you would," asked Xavier.

Wolverine was already on his way upstairs. He burst into the boys' room, not bothering to knock. Max was lying sprawled on the bed snoring away still in the clothes he wore to school.

"Kid, wake-up," said Logan.

"Five more minutes," mumbled Max. "I'll clean the shop later."

Logan snorted, his panic tempered by Max's response. "Wake-up, kid. You're going to explain to Chuck how you managed to flood the first floor."

Max's eyes shot open. "What!"

He jumped out of bed and raced downstairs. Wolverine followed at a much more sedate pace. When he reached the parlor Max was apologizing profusely to the professor. Xavier was hiding an amused grin. He couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise.

"Max!" the professor was surprisingly firm. "You're here to learn how to prevent this very occurrence. It's alright. No one was hurt."

Max took a deep breath and sighed in relief. "That's good."

"Tomorrow you will begin working with Storm," said Xavier. "It is imperative that both you and Mr. Kon learn to control your abilities as soon as possible. No one should be put in any unnecessary danger."

Max nodded still upset but not panicking. Xavier saw most of the other students had left and returned in new clothes. It was only 7:30 and far too early for most teenagers to be in bed on a Friday evening. Oddly enough, despite the miscellaneous pieces of furniture in unusual positions, nothing bore signs of recent soaking. That much water could not have evaporated so quickly. It had simply disappeared as strangely has it come.

"_So Max, still tired?"_ asked Ray after the professor finished talking.

"No," replied Max in English. "I've actually got a lot of energy right now."

Ray grinned. _"Why don't we have that beyblade match now? Tomorrow we might be too busy."_

"That's a great idea!" Max exclaimed. "Let's go."

Scott, a little more wary of the new kids after his impromptu bath, had to ask, "Where are you going?"

Max turned. "We're going outside to have a beyblade match. Would you like to watch?"

Watch world-champion beybladers duke it out right in their backyard?

"Oh yeah," piped up Jamie.

That said, most of the student population of the Xavier Institute wandered out the door. Max and Ray talking animatedly in Japanese for the short walk. They made their way to the beydish the professor had kindly bought for his students. Max and Ray did not stop there, but instead moved to the large open area several yards past the dish.

"You're not going to use the dish?" asked Scott.

Max smiled. "Nah. Ray and I haven't had a serious battle in a long time. So we're going to do something a little more serious than an exhibition match. It wouldn't be fair to make the professor replace the dish."

"Replace the dish?" repeated Kitty.

"It is a good dish," said Ray. "But the HMS beyblades are powerful."

"HMS?" asked Rahne more than a little confused. "Like the ships?"

Max laughed and Ray looked on in helpless befuddlement.

"Hard Metal System," explained Max. "These are the beyblades we used when we battled B.E.G.A. They're top of the line."

Jamie bounced up and down in place. "This is gonna rock!"

--

End.

Oh yes, I did just end it there. But never fear, more is on the way.

Thank you so much for all of your reviews! They really keep me motivated.

To _kailinne arami_: Thank you for your comment about Max. His character is difficult for me to write. I am trying to make him light-hearted, but I am also introducing some outside elements that are working against his natural chipper attitude. I will continue to strive for more in-character moments for everyone.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

Chapter Six: That which runs Deep

Professor Xavier could not help but glare at the office phone that dragged him away from his book. He had been reading a book concerning the history of beyblading, which he had purchased when he ordered the installation of a beydish on school grounds. He had meant to read it at some point, to familiarize himself with the sport that had so grabbed his students attention, but he had never found it truly necessary. Now he was only a third of way into the book after several hours of reading and was surprisingly loathed to set it down.

Beyblading, despite its recent popularity, was a sport evolved from an ancient form of war and weapons called "beys." The book had made several references to what the professor believed to be Ray's village in China though at a period several hundred years before Ray's birth. The author was very seriously recording the known history of the sport, but he had also copied several legends and linked them to his work. It was almost like reading a myth, Homer's _Iliad_ came to mind, but the man was completely serious.

Carefully marking his page, Xavier set down the book and answered the phone.

"This is the Xavier Institute for Gifted Children, Charles Xavier speaking."

"Ohayo, ah, bonsowa-ru, ah, good evening. I got this number from the Head Honcho, ah, Mr. Dickenson and—

"Sir, would I be correct to assume you are Mr. Granger, grandfather of Tyson Granger?" asked Xavier.

"Mr. Granger's for old people!" protested the man on the other end of the phone. "But yeah, the little dude is my grandson. So, Max and Ray give you the heads up?"

If the professor had any less dignity, then he would be staring at the phone in shocked horror. Instead, he was filing away the fact that none of the adults centered around the Blade Breakers seemed to find this turn of events unusual. In fact, if the information he had gleaned from Dickenson had been accurate, the children suddenly developing mutations was par for the course.

"I was made aware," was all he would admit.

"Do you think you can help the little dude?" asked Mr. Granger.

"Could you describe what has been happening?" inquired Xavier.

There was a mournful sigh on the other end of the phone. "The wind's been whirling around like crazy and centered all on Tyson. It's hard for the little dude to find his mojo when he keeps blowing holes in my dojo!"

That was when the professor knew for certain that he was in for one strange conversation.

--

"Charles, may I come in?"

The polite call lifted Charles spirits. Even now, half an hour after his conversation with Mr. Granger had ended, his head was still spinning. It was no doubt an extreme form of culture shock. But he was never so grateful to let Dr. McCoy into his study.

"Please, come in."

Blue, furry, and carrying a sheaf of notes in one hand, Beast entered into the office familiar and reasonable.

"Is something wrong, Charles?"

Xavier winced. His expression of relief was bit too obvious then. "No, I just had a conversation with a most unusual fellow. We are going to have another student in a few weeks."

Beast raised his eyebrows and fur ascended into more fur. "Would this happen to be the Tyson Granger that Ray was referring to this morning?"

"Indeed it is. He'll be arriving in two weeks time."

The blue-furred professor looked puzzled. "Why so long? If he is obviously manifesting his powers, wouldn't it be best for him to come straight away?"

"He appears to have a strong tie to the wind element, enough so that a plane trip would be… highly unsafe. He will have to travel by boat and train," explained Charles. "But, why did you want to see me, Henry?"

Dr. McCoy waved the sheaf of papers in his hands, plainly excited. "I was going through the blood work on Max and Ray when I noticed something or rather and a lack of something and something else."

"If you could be a bit more clear," suggested Xavier.

"Neither Max nor Ray appear to possess the x-gene!" exclaimed Beast. "It is quite astonishing. But I ran the tests several times just to be safe."

Xavier's mind ran through the possibilities but nothing made sense. "Then what about Ray's—

"After running multiple tests, I have found that young Ray possesses a great deal of feline DNA."

For some reason, all Xavier could think of was the book he had yet to finish reading and the legend it referred to about a village of warriors making deals with a cat-spirit.

"You are sure?" He couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Every test I've run has yielded the same results," said Beast. "It's simply extraordinary. A cat-person."

"A nekojin," murmured the professor. "I think for now, it is best to not reveal this to society at large."

Beast blinked. "Of course not. Not with the world…the way it is right now."

A tremor shook the mansion so hard that books toppled off of the Xaviers's shelves. Almost instantly the earth quieted, but both professors braced themselves for an aftershock. None came, so the psychic sent out a gentle probe. Young Mr. Alvers was safely tucked away in the boarding house that the Brotherhood called home. Most, if not all of his students, were outside and in a surprised state of awe.

_Jean? What's wrong? Is anyone hurt._ he asked.

The immediate reply was _Wrong? Nothing's wrong. We're all fine. That was _so_ cool…_

_I would urge everyone back inside._

_Of course, Professor._

Charles shook his head and looked to Beast. "It seems our newest students have done something impressive and, given the nature of their powers, most likely explosive."

With a crash the door to the study flew open. "What happened Chuck? Where are the kids?" growled Wolverine.

"They are outside, Logan. And, they are all fine," he said. "They're coming in right now."

"Charles," Storm appeared in the doorway, breathless with eyes shining, "I was outside just now. You will want to look at the recordings from the area B-3."

Xavier raised an eyebrow. If he recalled correctly, and he did, that was where they had installed in the new beydish. He rolled over to his computer and typed in a few commands. Part of the wall slid away to reveal a monitor. He chose the correct camera and looked at Storm for the time.

"Thirty minutes ago," she said.

"_Hard Metal System," said Max. "These are the beyblades we used when we battled B.E.G.A. They're top of the line."_

_Jamie jumped up in down in place. "This is gonna rock!"_

_Ray and Max assumed launch positions a few yards from each other. Their usual relaxed expressions were replaced looks of intense concentration though they still retained a friendly smile, or possibly smirk._

"_3..." said Max._

"_2..." said Ray._

"_1..."_

_Together they shouted, "Let it RIP!"_

_Beyblades flew from their launchers and crashed together in mid-air. Both fell to the earth, still spinning, raising a cloud of dirt. Ray and Max continued to call commands to their beyblades, even though nothing was yet visible._

Watching the tape, Charles Xavier wondered how these children could expect toys to respond to orders.

"Look at the ground," said Logan.

The dust had finally cleared giving view to the no longer solid ground the two beyblades were battling over. Deep trenches and rents were carved into the earth. Ray's next attack left shredded earth in its wake.

"Here's where they get serious," said Storm.

The men shot her startled looks then returned their attention to the video.

"_I don't think so," said Max. "Come on out Draciel!"_

"_Drigger! Show yourself!" responded Ray._

_The two bits began to glow from some unseen energy. A pillar of light rose from each blade and out of that pillar emerged monsters. Ray's beast was a lethal white tiger while Max's creature was a monstrous turtle._

"_Drigger! Gatling Claw!" ordered Ray._

_The tiger, Drigger, raced after Max's Draciel it attacked with the crackling energy of lightning._

"_Draciel! Aqua Shield!" yelled Max._

_The resulting explosion had both beybladers rocking back on their heels. Both boys yelled attack after attack. They were doing a great deal of damage to the surrounding area and were covered in small scrapes and bruises themselves._

"Here it comes," said Ororo.

"Here comes what?" asked Beast.

"Just watch," she said.

"_Draciel!" Max flung out a hand. "Gravity Control!"_

_Draciel sped toward Drigger at high-speed like a tidal wave barreling down onto the beach. Ray brought his arms up to ward off an attack. When Draciel hit Drigger, the tiger went flying but landed still spinning. At the same time, Ray was pushed back at least a yard. His feet left deep trenches where he pushed against some invisible force._

"What was that?" demanded Logan.

Ororo shook her head. "I don't know. This video shows exactly what I saw. But wait, the match is almost over."

"_You think a little water is going to scare me?" demanded Ray. His pupils were thin slits in shining yellow eyes. He bared his teeth__—__some of which were long enough to be called fangs. A claw-like hand reached out in command. "Drigger! THUNDER SLASH!"_

_Max met his friend's fearsome appearance with a smug confidence. "Counter Draciel! ULTRA GRAVITY CONTROL!"_

_The beyblades raced toward each other at high speeds. One crackled with lightning. The other sang with the power of the tides. They collided__—_

And the picture turned to static.

"It appears the energy overloaded the cameras," said Beast in an authoritative tone. He turned to Storm with the soulful look of a lost puppy. "What happened?"

Ororo could barely contain her laughter, especially when she saw the same look in Logan's eyes. If the professor had not been to dignified to plead, she was sure his gaze would hold the same.

"Both beyblades crashed into each other and raised a huge dust cloud. I blew it away. Max was stretched out on his back though he sat up quickly when he could see. Ray was resting on his knees. Both children looked very tired. I was standing further back than the students and couldn't see the beyblades anywhere, then they got up and jumped into this hole in the ground. They had made a crater that went up to Max's hips. I believe they decided to declare a tie."

Logan snorted in disgust. In his world there were no such things as ties.

"Ray referred to Max's display of power earlier this evening as Gravity Control, did he not?" asked the professor.

"That's right," said Storm. "I was quite impressed to see how far he got up that wall."

"Weren't we all?" asked Beast. He looked at the professor. "It is yet another oddity to add to the list."

"There's a list?" asked Logan.

"Perhaps, you best explain your findings," suggested Xavier.

Rather happily, Beast recited the information his test results had produced leaving Ororo and Logan staring at him in surprise.

Wolverine shook off his surprise, "I guess that's why the kid reminds me of Creed. Smells like a cat." At their astonished looks he added, "It's not exactly the same. Ray isn't feral like Creed."

The other teachers relaxed. Though a loud crash had them tense again in an instant. It took some time for them to realize the sound was thunder and came from outside.

"Was it supposed to rain today?" asked Beast.

Ororo looked amused. "No. But after that display, I'm not surprised."

"Storm, would you mind watching Ray and Max to make sure nothing else happens?" Xavier inquired politely.

Ororo agreed and left the study. Logan and Beast both trailed out behind her. Suddenly eager, Xavier picked up his book on beyblading. Perhaps there was more to these legends than he had initially believed.

--

Amara woke with a gasp and looked toward the clock. The semi-luminescent dial read 3:27. She flopped down her mattress and stared at the ceiling. She needed to go back to sleep. It was just a silly nightmare, she told herself. Still, the daughter of fire and earth could not help but shudder in fear at the thought of a cold, ancient, evil _thing_ coming to life deep inside the earth.

She firmly told herself that she was suffering a nightmare, rolled on to her side, and finally fell back to sleep.

Deep beneath the earth, a dark shade searched for blood.

--

End.

Eep! Scary!

I, erm, noticed some discrepancies with the ages I assumed the characters to be when I started this fic. It takes place after Apocalypse disappears, so pretty much everyone is a year older than I suggested. I'll go back and fix it soon. So, this fic will also be dealing with the post-Apocalypse changes that the mutant world is going through.

If you notice any other problems (like OOC-ness/inconsistencies) let me know and I'll work on it.

Thanks for reviews and favorites! (But remember you can review lots of times an only favorite once. The more reviews I get the faster I churn out chapters!) Constructive criticism is always appreciated.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

[Chapter Seven: Welcome the Wave. Welcome the Wind.]

After school time was always busy at the Xavier Institute. There were clubs and meetings at school and homework and chores, just like normal teenagers. But unlike normal teenagers there were also danger room sessions and practice drills and training, training, training.

Not that training was a bad thing, Max reflected. It was just so boring!

"Especially when you can't figure out what you're supposed to be doing," he muttered under his breath.

After a very strenuous week of practice, Max had finally been able to direct water on purpose. It had been an accident of sorts. For some reason, he and Ray had had less control than was normal for mutants whose powers had been manifesting so long. Failure after failure had led to Storm sitting him outside with a bucket of water and an instruction to think "wet thoughts" while she took Ray to safer place to practice.

Max had tried, he really had, but being a teenager his thoughts had wandered. He found himself staring at the vacant pool, so he forced his thoughts back to the bucket. His gaze kept slipping away to the much more inviting pool and finally he thought, 'Why not?' It was easy to feel the natural flow of the larger body of water that was the pool. In short order, he had the pool water lapping at the concrete edges in some semblance of tidal patterns. A small swell of pride had formed in his chest just before the entire contents of the pool flew into the air. Max lost control, if he had had it before, and was thoroughly soaked as the water exploded outward.

He had not yet been able to understand how he had done what he'd done though to some very minor degree he'd been able to reproduce his results. He had a great deal of success in getting rid of the random water-related problems that still managed to appear despite his best efforts. But otherwise there were almost no positive results, not to mention the fact he crashed for hours after every single attempt.

Max didn't even notice Ray until the other beyblader literally collapsed next to him.

"You okay, Ray?" he asked.

Ray groaned. _"It's like having _sensei _and Kai all rolled up into one, horrible, lightning-throwing package but, you know, saner…and a girl."_

Max threw back his head and laughed.

"It is not funny, Max!" Ray groaned in English.

"Saner and a girl!" Max repeated still howling.

"Man, you must be really bored," said Ray. "No luck yet?"

Max sighed. "Nope." He grinned though. "Tell me what sane-_sensei_-lightning-Kai-lady did to you today."

Ray rolled his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Same as yesterday. Try to form and direct lightning. She called some down too. I wish I could …get the hang of it faster."

Max smiled. "Sounds like you're doing great to me."

"But, you should be able to train with her too," Ray insisted. "It's not fair."

"It's cool man," said Max. "I practice with Storm too, you know. Besides," he leaned in conspiratorially, "I'd rather be stuck at square one while you get ahead than be moving at the same pace if it means I won't get fried by lightning."

"I guess," said Ray. He flopped back down. "Tired…"

Max chuckled. It had not taken very long to realize that Max and Ray's mutations were slightly different from the other children at the Institute. For one, they lacked the instinctual knowledge necessary to activate their powers. Both boys were striving to learn what they should already know. Another oddity was the physical toll that their powers took on their bodies. Ray had to build up energy before he could even hope to use his powers. On the other hand, Max's abilities grew in strength on their own, but as soon as he used them he was wiped out. It made for a somewhat hectic learning environment.

"When does Tyson arrive?" asked Ray, cutting into to Max's train of thought.

Max looked at his watch. "A few hours."

"I think I will take a shower," said Ray cheerily and stood. "If anything bad happens, then I will know who to blame."

"Very funny," said Max with a grin.

He waved at Ray and focused on the bucket of water with new intensity. He wanted to be able to fight with Tyson and Ray and Kai on this new level they had been granted. He couldn't stand to sit back and watch while the other practiced and got better. He needed the strength to keep up with his friends.

As he was thinking this, the swell of power that heralded his mutant abilities began to rise around Max. Storm, who had come to see what progress Max was making, watched him with hawk-like intensity. She could feel it, power not quite as close to hers as Ray's was, and knew it was reaching its crest.

Max could feel the power growing in him this time because it was building up slowly rather than rushing in and drowning him. He looked at the bucket and knew there wasn't enough water in it to practice with. Maybe later, when he could fine-tune his control, this would be an appropriate amount, but now he was using a sledgehammer instead of a needle. He needed more water, and he had water. In the air there was lots of water. He called the water in the bucket and the water in the air to merge. Instantly he could feel the air turn dry as his command sucked all moisture from it. The autumn air swirled in protest making Max shudder, but he ignored the chill. His attention was totally devoted to the sheet of water floating in front of him.

It hovered a few feet of the ground and was about five feet tall, two feet wide, and 3 inches thick. And it shimmered. Because it was liquid and not frozen, the water shifted inside its new shape casting shadows and shine on the area around it. Scrambling to his feet, he approached it cautiously and trailed his fingers across it. It was wet, even like this, and his touch caused a flurry of ripples. He poked it with a single finger, then pushed with one hand, and finally bracing both his feet he shoved with all his might. The sheet bulged slightly at the pressure but never burst. There was some sort of surface tension holding it together, Max decided, but on an impossible scale.

Max wondered how he could get rid of it but the choice was taken out of his hands. His power crested and fell rushing back down. The sheet of water disappeared into a cloud of mist that hydrated the parched air. Max glimpsed a rainbow before the mist faded entirely and left him blinking.

_And dizzy_, thought Max.

He would have fallen over if it weren't for the hands suddenly holding him up. Puzzled, Max lifted his head to see Storm studying him with a proud look in her eye.

"You did very well, Max. I have some ideas to discuss with you later. After you rest."

She added that last part as Max's knees buckled. Gently she picked him up. He was not so big that she could not carry him the short distance to the mansion.

Max protested weakly. "But Tyson's coming in-in-" He barely managed to find his watch much less read it.

"Soon," he said finally.

"If you are awake when he arrives, then there will be no problem. If he is a good friend, then he will let you rest and recover," she explained.

Max muttered something about "excitable" but already asleep by the time Storm had reached the patio. She open the door with a burst of wind and carried him into the mansion. Logan was at her side in an instant.

"What happened?" he asked.

Storm shook her head and let a small smile play across her face. Logan acted tough, and he was most of the time, but the children brought out an over-protective streak a mile-wide. It became somewhat of a problem when Wolverine dealt with Cyclops, who was the official field-leader of the X-men, as he still tended to think of the other as a kid.

"It is simple exhaustion," said Ororo. "He used his powers today and it wore him out. It was very impressive."

Logan grunted and retreated. He couldn't be seen to care too much.

Storm manuvered through the rest of the mansion with ease. Her arms were burning by the time she reached Max's room, but she thought little of it. Ray looked up from his book when she entered and looked concerned when he saw Max.

"Is he okay?" Ray asked.

"He is just tired," she explained again. "I do not think he will wake up before your friend arrives, and I advise you to let him rest."

Ray nodded then bit his lip. Storm waited patiently for him to ask.

"He did something and not something happened?" Ray asked tentatively.

"You mean, he did something because he intended it to happen and not by accident?" asked Storm.

Though Ray had learned a great deal more English in the past two weeks, he had not quite mastered the nuances of the language such contractions and idioms, and he still needed to increase his vocabulary. Beast had been very impressed with Ray's quick uptake and told the boy so. Ray had shrugged off the attention. Later, Max explained that Ray didn't think it very impressive to learn something like language so quickly because he was naturally curious and driven to better himself.

"Yes. Not by accident," agreed Ray.

"He used his powers on purpose and formed a sheet of water," said Storm. "Why do want to know?"

Ray took a deep breath and explained. "Max does not take long to learn a thing. No Blade Breaker does. It sounds like pride, but it is true. It is strange and confusing to not know how to do something. I know that I am unhappy that I cannot control lightning. Max is trying harder than me."

Storm nodded. She had suspected something of the sort from her observations of the two new students. Logan and Beast both said, in a roundabout way, that Max had been smelling sad. What little feeling that the professor could sense through the odd aura surrounding Max had been slowly becoming less and less cheerful. Having some success where his powers were concerned might just be the thing to lift Max's spirits though she was not certain that this exhaustion, which was clearly linked to his use of his powers, was the best thing for him. Perhaps the presence of another close friend would help.

Storm glanced at the clock and started. It was almost 5:30. She had been watching Max for almost half an hour. It had not felt like such a long time. She had been distracted interplay of elements Max had created.

Satisfied that the boy was comfortable and that Ray was suffering no ill effects from their long practice, Storm left their room. Still thinking about the two beybladers, she barely noticed she had reached the top of the stairs until she ran into someone. A small shriek brought Storm out of her reverie. She reached out and grabbed the student before the poor girl fell down the stairs.

"Are you alright, child?" she asked.

Amara blushed and looked down. "Sorry," she said. "I should have been paying more attention."

"It was I who was distracted," said Storm. "But you look tired. Are you sure you're well?"

The girl fretted her lip for a moment, clearly struggling. "I've been having these dreams." She fell silent again. A blush spread across her face.

"Dreams?" persisted Storm. "What sort of dream?"

"There is this thing underground. It's big and dark and," she shuddered, "evil. In the dream, I'm so sure it's there, but when I wake up I can't feel anything. I don't know which is worse. Making up something like that or if it's real and hiding."

Amara's shoulders were shaking. That the normally proud girl was so effected seriously worrried Storm. She wrapped the young mutant in her arms and whispered soothing words as her shoulder became wet with tears.

"Let's go see the professor," said Storm gently when the younger girl had finished crying.

They were walking down the grand staircase when a knock resounded in the foyer. Amara smiled weakly, and Storm went to answer the door. She stood there stunned by what she saw. A young boy with bright blue hair in a baseball cap was arguing with an old man in an absolutely lurid Hawaiian shirt. The old man had a practice sword in his hands and was taking swings at the boy.

"Um, excuse me?"

Both froze in place for about two seconds, then the boy, who was balancing on his toes, fell face first onto the patio. The old man stood straight and made a sad attempt at hiding his sword behind his back. He tipped the edge of his straw skimmer hat in a respectful manner.

"Hey there, miss. I'm Ryu Granger. This little feller with his nose in the dirt is my grandson Tyson," he said.

The little feller jumped up in indignation. "Grandpa!" he cried then started talking in a flurry of Japanese. Mr. Granger responded and whipped out his practice weapon. Seconds later they were fighting again. A faint giggle brought them to a stand still. Storm glanced over her shoulder and saw Amara struggling not to laugh. Mr. Granger took advantage of the distraction and landed a resounding blow on his grandson's head.

"_I get it! I get it!"_ said Tyson in Japanese. _"Lay off, old man!"_

"_You can't be too careful,"_ said Grandpa.

"_At least I won't have to watch out for you while I'm here,"_ muttered Tyson.

"If you'll come inside," said Storm. "Professor Xavier would like to talk to you."

She waited for Tyson to pick up his duffel bag before leading them inside. She gestured for Amara to follow them and together they made their way to the Professor's office.

"My name is Ororo Munroe. I am one of the teachers here," she said. "My powers involve weather manipulation, so I will be working with your grandson."

"Right on."

Storm was left wondering when this man learned English, perhaps the seventies.

The door to the professor's office opened as Storm reached for the handle. Professor Xavier was sitting behind his desk looking unusually noble. Recalling the professor's rather tense expression two weeks before, she realized he was probably preparing himself to deal with Mr. Granger. Storm wished she had had a bit more warning herself.

"The Grangers are here Professor," she said. "As is Amara."

She let the psychic read her concern for Amara. The Brazilian girl, still unusually timid, peeped over Tyson's head.

"Thank you, Ororo. Please, Tyson, Mr. Granger, come in. If you'll wait outside, Amara, this shouldn't take long," said Xavier.

"Yes, professor."

Storm waited outside with Amara. A few minutes later, Ray appeared at the end of the hall.

"I heard Tyson here," he said.

"That's right," said Ororo. She thought for a moment. "Does Tyson know English?"

"Tyson complains a lot about English class. He know some," said Ray.

"Knows," said Amara.

"He knows some," corrected Ray. "Thanks."

"Are you rooming with, Tyson?" asked Storm. "I don't think you have a three person room."

Ray shook his head. "No, Tyson will room with Jamie. Professor Xavier told him. Jamie told me."

Storm raised an eyebrow in mild disbelief. Jamie had a room to himself because of his maturity level. Most students could only last so long before his childness drove them nuts. He also tended to fill up his room rather quickly with multiple copies of himself.

"He and Tyson will be great," said Ray. "Very similar to rooming with Daichi."

Storm frowned and shared a look with Amara. Before Ray could explain who Daichi was, the door to the professor's office opened. Tyson and his grandfather walked out. Tyson grinned at his friend and the two grabbed each other's hand in greeting.

"_Ray! It's good to see you, man."_

"_Same to you, Tyson! How was the trip?"_

"_The boat was awesome, but there was nothing to do. It took forever to get here. Right, Grandpa?"_

Mr. Granger looked at them. _"Sure did, little dude. Of course, all that wind blowing around outside was pretty exciting."_

"_Grandpa!"_groaned Tyson.

"_Hello, Mr. Granger!"_ said Ray.

"_What's up, little dude?"_ he said with a grin._ "Where's the other little dude?"_

Storm watched in amusement. She might have to learn Japanese. Amara started for the professor's office. The sound of running feet drew Storm's attention. There was Jamie, running down the hall. Ray had the presence of mind to step out of the way but Tyson didn't know any better. With a loud crash, Jamie floored Tyson and dropped several clones on top of him. A multitude of groans rose from the pile.

Jamie and his clones quickly got up and one of them held out his hand to Tyson. He spoke hesitantly. "Hi there, we're your roommate!"

Tyson looked from clone to clone in confusion. Then he realized what he was seeing. "Dude, that's so cool!"

Ray started to snicker. Storm felt like laughing herself. Jamie face had lit up like a lightbulb at the unexpected praise, most people did not react that way after receiving the poor boy's unintentional pig-pile. She was just beginning to think things would work out well after all.

Then the ground shook.

- - - - -

End.

So, since I haven't update this story in forever, which I feel kind of bad for not doing but frankly didn't feel motivated to work on it, I will answer some of your questions. (In the order that I feel is least urgent to most pressing.)

Q1-Who is Amara? Is she an OC?

A1-Amara is a character from X-men. In X-men Evolution she is Brazilian and has command over "earth" including powers relating to volcanic activity. She can also turn her body into magma.

Q2- How can the X-men see the bit-beasts without believing in/knowing about them?

A2-They're mutants. They have extra-sensory perceptions. It's a crossover and a plot device. My life doesn't need to be that complicated.

Q3- Are only the original Blade Breakers going to have powers?

A3- At the risk of giving away too much, I'm going to say other beybladers will show up, and it would be boring if they couldn't do anything. (Only characters from seasons 1 and 3 because I couldn't watch most of season 2.)

Q4- Will there be pairings?

A4- I am not writing any pairings, so you can squint anything you want.

Q5- When will Kai show up? You freak, you have Kai listed as the main character, when is he going to get here?

A5- Okay, so no one wrote the second part, but I'm sure lots of you were thinking it. And the answer is…I'm not telling. (But I already have that part written and, man, do I hope it's cool.)

So, thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or added an alert because everytime I read one of those e-mails I thought, you know, I should really work on this and I did.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

[Chapter Eight: Warning Signs]

Tyson and his grandfather fit seamlessly into the life of the mansion. They had offered for the elder Mr. Granger to stay the evening to recover from his trip, and he had gratefully accepted. A week later, Xavier had to wonder if he could convince the students to give up the kindly old man and let him go back home. It was refreshing to find a normal human who looked at a bunch of mutant teenagers and thought "teenager" first. Though given some of Mr. Granger's eccentricities, normal might not be the right word to describe the man.

As if sensing Charles thoughts, even though he couldn't have Charles would have noticed, the rambunctious senior appeared at the end of the hall. He had a unusually serious expression on his face and the professor felt a pang of heartache. Unable to tell what had caused the strong sensation, Xavier waited for the other man to approach.

"Professor, I wanted to talk to you before I left this afternoon."

Charles sensed several competing emotions coming from the other man and knew he was in for a difficult conversation.

"My office is free."

Once they were both comfortably settled, the psychic cautiously reached out with his mind. Not enough to hear the thoughts inside Mr. Granger's skull, but enough to feel their general construction. He could sense a good deal of parental affection and concern, most likely focused on Tyson but possibly for all the students at the institute. He also felt the sharp and bitter division of reluctant suspicion. Caution and concern warred beneath the other's surface. And fainter than all of those, but still present, was a sore spot that tasted of betrayed heartache. His worry flamed to new heights Charles attempted to broach the subject sensitively.

"What is troubling you, Mr. Granger? I will do my best to answer any of your questions."

The usually animated face was oddly stiff and closed. "I trust you because Tyson and his friends trust you. They've got good instincts about this kind of thing. But I want to know what, exactly, you are training these kids for."

Sorrow, a familiar companion in today's world, threatened to overwhelm him. It was entirely his own, and that made it even harder to deal with. Mr. Granger's urgency pressed him forward.

"I'm not sure how much you know about the situation between mutants and non-mutants," Charles began and felt a sharp spike of something that felt like sorrow and rage rolled into one. Gathering his wits once more, normally he was not so sensitive to pure emotion, he continued. "But there are some who believe that war is approaching. I want to preserve as much life as possible should that come to be."

"You did not answer my question. I want you to tell me exactly who you expect those children to be fighting."

Charles almost gaped at the cold glare in the older man's eyes. Revealing more to this human than he had to any in a long time he explained, "My friend, Erik Lehnsherr, is a very powerful mutant known as Magneto. He believes that war is coming and is already taking steps to make sure mutants are the ones that win."

Granger watched him carefully. "And you _don't_ want mutants to win?"

Instantly, Xavier knew this was a conversation he did not want to be having. The man sitting in front of him was not the fun and doting Grandpa Granger. He was a man old enough to remember and possibly have fought in the last world war, which his side had lost completely in an awesome and terrible display of power.

"I don't want there to be a war at all," said Xavier.

"But you think there will be," said Granger. "Training some of these kids probably requires a course or two on demolitions. But you have them learning to fight first and foremost even when their powers could be used for other purposes." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. "I know the importance of self-defense. I want Tyson to be able to fight back if something comes after him, but I do not want him to come out of this place thinking of himself as a soldier."

Charles paled tightening his grip on his wheelchair. Mr. Granger stared at him, his face honest and sad and angry.

"I am not trying to make my students into soldiers," said Xavier. "I want them to be prepared to defend themselves and the things important to them."

"You want them to be able to defend the things important to you," corrected Granger. "And while those kids have seen enough and done enough to decide they want to protect what you want to protect. I don't think you understand that yet. My grandson, his friends, they are warriors. They fight for what they believe is right, even if it means fighting you."

"I see," said Charles.

Mr. Granger eyeballed him, not entirely convinced. "Those kids no what it's like to be manipulated and they resent it, especially Kai."

Charles saw an opportunity and seized it. "Mr. Granger, I've had no word of Kai Hiwatari. Yet everyone insists that he will be coming here and that he might even know what's happened to Tyson and the others. Could you possibly explain why?"

After running blood tests on Tyson, he too had proven to lack the mutant gene. They had informed Mr. Granger but still refrained from telling the students. Charles wanted to know how anyone could understand what was happening much less a teenager with no experience in mutant biology.

Some of the ferocity had bled away now that he had delivered his warning and Mr. Granger had become a gentle old man once more.

"Kai's a good little dude, but his grandfather, Voltaire, is anything but. He wants to conquer the world and he's explored a lot of options in trying. Most of those, Kai was a part of or knows about. Even if doesn't know what is happening, Kai is quick on the uptake and will figure something out. Not to mention he keeps his head in tough situations," he smiled. "He's not perfect. No one is. But for Tyson and the others, it's like having someone who wants you safe and will never let you down standing at your back."

Charles wondered what kind of child Kai was to inspire such loyalty in people. "Thank you for telling me."

Mr. Granger nodded once and stood up. "Well, got to go tell Tyson the bad news. Bet he can't wait to get rid of an old fart like me."

He stood up and wandered out of the office, leaving Charles warmed and disturbed all at the same time. Most parents who knew their students were mutants did not want to know what their kids were doing at school. Those that didn't were kept in the dark for obvious reasons. He wondered how many of them would object to what their children were doing. All of them, probably, because they did not understand the need that drove his students to fight.

Tyson's grandfather had understood. He had not been pleased, but he had understood. Perhaps that was why the students enjoyed his company so much. Not only was he cheerful and funny, he understood that they weren't just teenagers, they were fighters too. It was certainly something to consider.

--

It was always fun hanging out with Tyson, but his new powers made it even more interesting, decided Max. He sprawled listlessly next to Ray under the dubious shelter of a tree. They had spent most of the last hour dodging wind funnels, which formed sporadically at any height from rooftop to ankle. Most of the students looked harried. No one had been seriously hurt and they had gotten in some excellent dodging practice. Storm could only do so much when faced with hundreds of tiny sporadic twisters.

An all too familiar snore drew Max's attention. Tyson was practically boneless asleep the instant he had been able to sent down. He was no closer to controlling his power than Max or Ray, which was reassure and disappointing at the same time. But it was no surprise that Tyson was exhausted. Not only was he making the cyclones, he also had to dodge them or risk being thrown dozens of feet through the air.

"That was different," said Ray.

"Do you think so?" asked Max.

Ray thought about it for a moment. "Only how it was done."

Max laughed, startling several of the other students into looking around before they settled back to the ground. Storm looked more frazzled than anything else. Even Logan managed to looked surprised. But if the quirked smile on the older mutant's face wasn't his version of busting a gut laughing, then Max would eat Tyson's hat.

"Maybe we should ease up on the beybattles for a while," said Ray.

"I wonder if Tyson noticed," said Max.

"He was stuck on a boat for two weeks," said Ray. "Probably, didn't notice."

Max nodded his head, conceding the point. While Tyson was quick to pick things up when beyblades were concerned, he had yet to apply that skill to real life. They had both noticed a sharp increase in physical manifestations of their powers when they were emotionally charged. Or, as normal people would say it, strange things happened when they got excited. Tyson, who had even less experience than they did in controlling his powers and who was easily the most excitable of the Blade Breakers, excluding Daichi, was the most likely to let loose by accident.

They had come to the back field to watch the institute students beyblade. Not all of them owned beyblades of course. Mostly it was the younger boys and Kitty of all people. Max, Ray, and Tyson had offered to give some pointers and maybe have a match or two. That led everyone else out with them because, honestly, who was going to say no to a world-class beyblading demonstration. It would be weeks before the students shook off their excitement. Then as the matches started, Tyson predictably got involved in cheering people on, which got him excited, which led, apparently, to mini- and not-so-mini-twisters tearing up the lawn.

"How do we tell, Tyson?" asked Ray.

"That he shouldn't beyblade until he gets his powers under control?" said Max. "You can do it."

Ray snorted. "No way."

"We can tell Ms. Munroe then," said Max. "Maybe he'll listen to an adult."

This time Ray was the one who laughed. No one even twitched. Max spent his time calculating the likelihood of Tyson taking the news well until the sound of movement made him look up.

Grandpa was walking up the hill looking unusually somber, at least until he reached the Tyson. At that point his expression faded into its usual fond exasperation and he poked his grandson with his constant companion, the bamboo practice sword.

"I come all the way up here to say good-bye to my grandson, and here he is sleeping. Hi-yah!"

He swung the sword down with perhaps not his full force but what would make resounding smack. Tyson caught the weapon between in hands and let out a terrific snore. Grandpa blinked. Max blinked. Even Logan blinked.

"Maybe I need to practice more," said Grandpa. "I'm getting too predictable."

"_Hey, Tyson,"_ Ray called in Japanese, _"if you don't hurry Daichi is going to eat all the food."_

"_Food!"_ crowed Tyson. He jumped up and looked around. _"That's just mean, Ray."_

Max and Ray chuckled, then struggled to their feet. The other students were stirring too.

"I'm heading home, kiddo," said Grandpa. "Wanted to say good-bye before I left."

"I guess the Chief would be pretty tired of Daichi by now," said Tyson. "I mean, he wears me out and he's got the whole dojo to run around in."

Max winced thinking of all the trouble Daichi could get into in Kenny's family's bakery. He hoped it was still standing.

"We are certainly going to miss having you around," said Ororo.

Grandpa smiled at her. "Yeah, well, things to do, places to see. I hope Tyson won't bother you too much."

"I think I can handle it," said Storm. She was in charge of Tyson's training too, since his power was also related to weather.

"Tyson," Grandpa placed his hands on Tyson's shoulders, "I know you'll do a good job. Call me or Mr. Dickenson, if anything goes wrong."

"Sure, Grandpa," said Tyson.

Grandpa grinned. "Alright. I've got a cab to catch. Have a blast, dawgs."

That said, Grandpa turned and wandered back down to the mansion. Max watched the familiar Hawaiian shirt disappear inside, before turning to Ray. His friend had a wistful smile on his face, one that mirrored on nearly everybody.

"You're grandfather's really cool," said Jamie. Even after a week, he was still surprised at how easily Tyson and his grandfather had accepted him. They hadn't said one word about him not being able to control his cloning power. His own parents hadn't been as understanding as that.

"Yeah, Grandpa's alright," said Tyson. "So, who's hungry?"

Max and Ray exchanged grins as most of the students groaned. Watching Tyson eat could people off their own meals if they weren't used to it. His appetite had only increased after his powers manifested.

"I'm sure we can find something," said Ororo. She started walking back to the mansion with Tyson on her heels. "While you were resting, I just happened to overhear Max and Ray…"

Max stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his friend.

"Run for cover?" he asked.

"Yeah," agreed Ray.

The two bladers took off for the tree line. They heard Tyson's startled yelp and dove for cover as yet another cyclone began tearing up the landscape. The ground pratically rumbled in protest.

Max sighed. "This could take awhile."

Ray grinned. "I'm going to tell him it was your idea."

"What! Not if I get to him first."

- - - - -

End.

A/N: Wow. An update. How did that happen? The first part was a lot more serious and lengthy than I had originally intended, but I needed something to get me moving.

So some official things, we're going to retcon Max's name because it's weird for his last name to be in its original Japanese when everything else has been Americanized.

Kai is so close to appearing in this story I can almost taste it.

Remember that _italics_ are usually someone talking in a foreign language. (I'm going to assume that Tyson took English in school and that it stuck pretty well, but he knows Japanese better.)

Also, this fic (I write it all in one document) is so big that the spell/grammar check refuses to work because of all the weird names, so if you notice any glaringly obvious errors, please tell me.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

[Chapter Nine: Blaze Warrior]

The meeting between the newest students at the Xavier Institute and the Brotherhood had to happen eventually. Kurt knew that as well as anyone. But no one expected that first encounter to go anything like this.

The Brotherhood came to school every so often, not as much now that the mutant secret was out, which meant almost never, but they did come. Kurt thought it was probably because of Kitty. Lance wanted to see Kitty, and school was about the only place that could happen without a battle breaking out, mostly. But they traveled in a pack—_for protection_, a distant part of Kurt's mind pointed out—so if Lance came to school at least one other would come too. This invariably cut down on Lance and Kitty's alone time, which didn't bother the brother-friend-protector part of Kurt's brain at all, but it also increased the chance of a fight, which definitely bothered the high school student.

This time Pietro had hitched along for the ride. He had noticed the two new students mixed in among the x-men's little group—they traveled in a pack too after all—and decided to have a little fun. In this case, fun meant stealing Tyson's hat. Tyson, who had not been enjoying his regular schooling as much as his mutant training, proceeded to chase after Pietro before anyone could warn him not to. Then, without warning, Tyson skidded to a halt and turned around. Kurt had followed his line of sight to find Pietro there. The little speed-demon had turned around, and Tyson had reacted almost instantly.

That had led to the current, Kurt supposed he had to call it a _game_, where Pietro ran from one spot to another, trying to see if he could lose Tyson. Surprisingly enough, he didn't seem to be able to shake him and Tyson even appeared to be speeding up.

Kurt looked at Max to see the blond's eyes dart back and forth over the yard.

"Can you follow him?" he asked.

"Only when he slows down to turn," said Max. "He's a moving bit faster than Dragoon usually does."

"You mean you really can see him?" asked Rogue.

She, Kurt, and Max were the only ones watching what was happening. Lance and Kitty were taking the opportunity to talk without distraction and the others weren't out of class yet.

"Well, he's slowed down some since they started," said Max. "I think he wants to know how fast Tyson can go."

"How fast can Tyson go?" asked Kurt.

Max frowned and searched his memory. "I don't know. A couple of years ago, some of our friends were kidnapped and Tyson had to run around to save them. The distances kept getting longer and the time kept getting shorter, but I don't think he paid much attention to how fast he actually was."

"Your friends were kidnapped?" asked Rogue.

She looked as shocked as Kurt. He at least kept up with beyblading news. He would have thought something would be printed about a kidnapping involving the Blade Breakers.

Max nodded. "Yeah, Kenny and Hilary, I was here in America, so I didn't know about it until later."

"Just to make Tyson run around?" she persisted.

"Well, what they really wanted to sensor readings off Dragoon, so they could try to clone a cyber bit-beast. They hadn't been able to draw him out, so they forced Tyson to—

Max cut off abruptly, his eyes widening. Kurt wasn't familiar enough with Max to tell what he was thinking from his facial expressions, but he recognized the look on his face. It was the same I've-discovered-something-that-might-change-the-laws-of-the-universe look that Dr. McCoy sometimes sported.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I've got an idea I want to try later," said Max, sounding perfectly innocent.

Kurt shivered. He hoped Max's idea didn't involve flooding the institute again. It took forever for his fur to dry, and everyone complained about a wet dog smell until they realized it was him. Then things just got awkward.

"I don't understand," said Rogue. "I thought Drigger was the fast bit-beast."

She had been reading up on beyblading since the new students arrived. It wouldn't do to sound like a Southerner and be completely ignorant.

Max grinned, happy to talk about beyblading, even they weren't discussing his bit-beast.

"You'd think that," he said, "because Drigger is known for his lightning attacks and because Tyson usually sweeps his opponents so impressively. But if you really look at the stats, Dragoon is the fastest bit-beast and Drigger is the powerhouse. When we first started beyblading it was really easy to tell which of us were strong in what area, but since then we've all improved a lot."

Max returned his attention to the power-play between Tyson and Pietro. Forcing Kurt's mind back to the situation at hand.

Tyson had increased his speed at least ten-fold. He was zipping back and forth at what had to be a slow jog to Quicksilver but at a pace faster than Kurt had seen anyone else use. Max was right at least that Pietro was slowing down. Even Kurt could follow him, and he didn't always have the best vision during daylight hours thanks to his mutation.

"What is going on here?" The outraged voice of principal Kelly pierced the relative calm of the afternoon.

Pietro smirked and darted toward the unfriendly man. Tyson followed him unthinkingly, then saw the man standing in his path. Kelly released a manly shout at the thing speeding toward him. Not quite sure how to stop, Tyson jerked to the side, upsetting his balance, and resulting in an impressive series of somersaults and tumbles until he eventually slowed to a stop.

"Tyson, are you okay?" asked Max running toward his friend.

"Make the ground stop moving," groaned Tyson.

Pietro stopped above the prone beyblader and dropped the hat onto his head. "Not too bad for an x-geek," he said. "Lance, you said hi to your girlfriend, now let's go."

Lance and Kitty sputtered, joining in odd harmony with principal Kelly's own attempts at speech.

"Leave off, man," said Lance finally. He managed something resembling a grimace in Kitty's direction before the two of them took off for the relative safety of the Lance's jeep and the Brotherhood's boarding house.

Left with only Xavier's students to vent to, Kelly turned his ire on them.

"What did you think you were doing?" he demanded. "I let you all back here with the provision that you wouldn't cause any trouble."

Kurt saw the direction this was heading and started mentally calling for Jean. She would be able to reach the professor and get him to sort this all out.

"So you're upset because you had to do your job."

Kurt groaned and prepared himself to leap to Max's defense. The kid didn't know that talking to Kelly didn't do any good.

"What did you say?"

Max glared up at the man from beside Tyson. "There is currently no law in any country revoking the rights of any person because of their genes. There is certainly no law here, in America, preventing school children from receiving an education. You, Principal Kelly, are out of line for suggesting that my friend, who risked injuring himself in order to prevent anything from happening to you, went out of his way to cause trouble. Especially, when he was provoked by an older, stronger student. I thought it was your job to prevent bullying and to make sure all of your students were safe on this campus."

Even if it wouldn't do any good, it was nice to hear Max giving Kelly a piece of his mind.

"You-you!" Kelly had been reduced to sputtering again.

"Of course," and now Max's glare had been replaced by far too sunny expression, "you might want to keep in mind that my mother is an internationally recognized scientist and performs highly classified research for the American government. She would be very, very upset if I told her that my friends and I couldn't go to school. She might even have to address the situation personally."

That shut Kelly up. He fumed silently for a minute or two before turning around and walking away. It was perhaps the least Kurt had ever heard him say.

"That," said Kitty, "was awesome. But I don't think the professor is going to be very happy about it."

Jean walked up to the group of students. She wore a frown no more reassuring than Kelly's had been. "I just saw principal Kelly. What happened?"

"I've been trying to reach you forever," said Kurt.

"I had to take Amara back to the institute. She said something's moving around underground that's not supposed to be there," Jean explained. "Now tell me what happened."

Max got to his feet and helped Tyson stand up. Kurt watched them thoughtfully. He hadn't heard Max say anything about his mother before. He wondered how much of what Max said was true. He saw Rogue giving them a similar look and decided to talk things over with her later. Meanwhile, Kitty tried to explain what had happened without letting slip to the psychic that she and Lance had been making out the entire time. That was almost as amusing as everything else combined.

--

Logan had to get away once in awhile. The fits struck infrequently and rarely lasted long, and few people could tell the difference between his "away" time and his normal anti-social behavior. But Charles knew better than to press him when he felt the need to leave.

Logan needed to be away—avoiding the fall out from the situation at the school this afternoon was just an excuse. Most of the time, he just needed to be alone and rid himself of the fear that came with caring for people. The need to be alone was unsurprising given how quickly he'd bonded with the new students. But now, something was driving him to go anywhere, to be anyplace except the institute. It was almost like a call, but since he made the resolution to leave, he had felt no tug in one direction or another. No further draw meant he was either making the whole thing up or that he had chosen the correct path to follow up until now.

He was driving away from people. He couldn't smell any recent signs of human habitation on the road he was taking. Even travel along this road was limited though it was still in good repair. He had driven this path many times before. Logan was finally starting to relax and consider the possibility that the urge to leave had come from within when the world took a deep breath…

…and plunged into violent upheaval.

The earth shuddered. Logan was thrown from his bike when he drove over a newly formed crack in the asphalt. He flew 50 feet through the air with his motorcycle not far behind then skidded another ten yards. The trees on either side of the road were shaking like mad things. Wind funneled into the open pathway at gale-force speeds. The mini-quake rocking the mountain made it too difficult for him to stand. For one brief moment, Logan wondered if he was going die crushed underneath a tree.

Then, from his prone position, Logan saw a pillar of fire thrust itself into being and fade away.

Still blinking the spots from his eyes, Logan realized that the chaos had stopped. The road had settled as if nothing had happened. Only a few hair think cracks showed where giant fissures had existed the moment before.

Wolverine looked up the mountainside. He could remember where the fire appeared and no doubt smell the trees it had set a flame. He dragged his motorcycle to the side of the road then started up into the forest.

A ten minute walk found him at the mouth of a tunnel. The edges of the opening still glowed with the heat that had forced it into being. Other than that small sign, Wolverine would have thought the opening had been there for ages. But there were few natural caves in this part of the mountains. He walked inside, never once thinking that it could be a trap.

The tunnel sloped gently downward and did not falter in diameter or direction. The walls were melted smooth, but Wolverine could rings upon rings stacked on top of each other that marked the progression of the flame. It was if a great drill had bored the hole into the mountain though even a drill would be less regular.

A few minutes of walking brought a flickering orange light into Wolverine's sight. He tensed, preparing to run if this was another jet of fire, though running probably wouldn't do him much good if he were caught. The light remained the same distance, still flickering gently. Wolverine approached more cautiously now. Something was down here.

He stopped, briefly, when his nose caught the scent of blood and his ears the sound of uneven breathing. Then he hurried forward, suddenly compelled again, and walked fully into the light.

Logan was in a cave so tall he could not see the ceiling. Stranger than that, the cave was a perfect circle and the only way out he could see came from the tunnel he had walked through. At the center was a fire pit depressed into the ground. What he saw as a small, flickering light was just the tip of an enormous fire burning there. But the most unusual feature of the cave, other than its existence at all, was the sunken relief of a phoenix carved into the wall opposite the tunnel.

He had always considered phoenixes, when he thought of them at all, to benevolent creatures or at least benign, but the he saw carved into the rock was anything but. The lines were thick and coarsely hewn as if the carver had poured his rage into his work. Logan could see the dark fury in its stance and almost feel the flames pouring from its wings. Blood dripped from it talons. With its head caught in profile, a single eye glowed menacingly. The scenes carved into the rock on either side were equally fearsome. Images of burning vistas littered with the fallen bodies of warriors, animals, even women and children, circled the whole cave. Logan could feel the death pressing at him from all sides and was reminded of his own lonely stretch of immortality.

A starved gasp brought Logan back to himself. Lying beneath the central carving was a person, a very bloody person. He hurried to the figure and knelt beside it. It was a boy not yet Scott's age. He was breathing in harsh pants and rasps and had raw, bleeding wounds everywhere. Logan knew he would be unconscious from pain like that, but when he moved to pick the boy up, the child forced one eye open and stared at him.

Though shocked, Logan wasn't deterred in the least. He needed to get this boy to a hospital as soon as possible.

Carefully, Logan picked the child up and turned to leave. Something hit his boot. Logan looked down. A beyblade was running into his foot over and over again. Logan looked closer. On the top of the beyblade was the image of a phoenix.

In one swift movement, Logan bent down, swept up the toy, and started running with the boy back out into open air. Memories of conversations started slipping through his head.

_If anyone knows what's happened to us, it'll be Kai._

_We're all here. Kai's bound to show up eventually._

_If this happened because of our beyblades, then Kai will have known about it and probably got his powers under control already. He's like that._

_Kai will probably flounce in here proud as king and mock us for not knowing anything and being weak. Then he'll settle down and help us figure out what's wrong without actually giving us the answers. He's good at things like that._

_Kai knows. Kai understands…._

_Kai's dying._

Logan tried to ignore that final, morbid thought. He was on his bike with one arm locked securely around the semi-conscious boy. Then Logan drove like a bat out of hell.

- - - - -

End.

A/N: I told you Kai was close, right? And look, another update so soon. (Better than half a year, right?) It's a miracle. Or perhaps I'm trying to avoid the two term papers I have due in history. I'm rooting for miracle. And look, I don't even have any questions to answer since they were all "when's Kai going to get here?"


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

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[Chapter Ten: Questions without Answers]

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"Go over it once again, please," said Mr. Dickenson sounding nervous.

None of the X-men were certain, but nervousness appeared to be the BBA Chairman's permanent state of existence. Charles had felt it prudent to contact Kai's guardian due to his sudden and dramatic appearance in their facilities. That had led to calling Dickenson, which led to a video-conference with the foremost experts on beyblades. The foremost experts happened to be Mr. Dickenson along with Tyson's grandfather and Ray's village instructor, who had been flown in from China to Japan; Max's mother, who was performing research in the US; and Tyson's father and elder brother, who were both at a highly classified dig site.

Dr. McCoy had asked why Kai didn't have an adult representative, which had led to the awkward revelation that his grandfather was in a coma and his previous trainer was in jail only because said grandfather _was_ in a coma and had not paid for his release.

Logan sighed but slowly began recounting the events of the previous evening. It was his fifth recital, so he was pretty good at it. Jean and Hank had required a lose briefing of events to understand where they should begin triage. Later, when everything had quieted down, Logan had explained in full what had happened to the instructors.

However, that morning he had been waylaid by Max, Ray, and Tyson, who had tried to wheedled the information out of him. Xavier wasn't keen on the students knowing too much at that point, which Logan had explained in the nicest way possible. That hadn't gone over too well. Tyson fairly well exploded at him, gaining the attention of the entire student body. If Tyson hadn't been tired out from the previous evening's explosion, Logan was fairly certain he would have gotten the chance to practice his whirlwind dodging skills. As it was, the chandeliers had creaked ominously.

Max took a slightly different tactic. He said that anything after Kai was likely to come after them too. They needed the information to protect themselves or at least to start comparing what had happened to Kai to previous threats. Logan hadn't bought it. But was more than a little spooked at the calm way Max had accepted the potential of bodily harm towards himself and his friends.

Ray turned out to have the most convincing argument. He smoothly reached out and gripped Logan's arm, as if to hold him in place, then proceeded to tell him that they knew some Russians who took Kai's safely very seriously. From this Wolverine could infer that healing factors and adamantium bones would not be a deterrent to information gathering. All the while, Logan was focused on his eyes, which had narrowed to near-imperceptible slits, and the fingernails in his arm, which had dug deeper with every word. Afterwards, it had taken nearly two hours for the claws marks to heal.

Of course, the commotion insured that every student heard what had happened, but that didn't bother Logan overly much. He was very careful to watch the boys' reactions as he told the story. None of them were surprised at Kai's condition, though all were obviously agitated, what really gripped them was the depiction of the evil phoenix in the subterranean room. His nose, which had been mostly clouded with the scent of feline rage at that point, was suddenly struck by fear and more human rage. If Logan thought any of them had been prone to swearing, his ears might have been blasted off. As it was, they pumped him for details then scurried upstairs as soon as he was out of things to say.

According to Kitty, who just so happened to wander upstairs shortly after the new finished quizzing Logan, they had their own video-chat. One frame had a bunch of boys, though only one with startling red hair was talking, and the other was of a single boy with very large glasses. They were all speaking Japanese, but occasionally some of the boys would call out something definitely not Japanese. Logan listened to her attempts at repeating what turned out to be Russian. Very deep down in the cockles of his heart, Logan was relieved that he did not have to deal with unfriendly Russian beybladers if their Japanese counterparts were able to cause so much damage.

As he recited his rescue of Kai he watched the faces on the monitor carefully. He could not use his enhanced senses on mere images, but he was very skilled at recognizing body language. As in his previous retellings, he described Kai's condition before talking about the room. From what he could see, the adults appeared grimly resigned. Here was yet more evidence that the Bladebreakers were often in danger. When he described the room and the carvings of the evil beast, even the worst observer could see them pale.

"What's up with the phoenix?" Logan growled.

"What do you mean?" asked Dr. Tate sharply.

"You guys, the kids, you all tense whenever I get to talking about the bird. Why is that?"

"The big chicken is a bad dude," said Tyson's grandfather. "But it's not really our story to tell. If the little dudes spill the beans, then we can tell you what we know."

"Would it not be better for you to tell us so that we might be able to face any potential threat?" inquired Ororo.

"At this point there is not enough data to support the idea that mutant capabilities are effective against," here Dr. Tate paused and granted herself a small smile, "against the big chicken."

Xavier frowned. "A lack of data simply means that more experimentation is needed. There is no reason to keep us in the dark if our students are in danger."

The villager elder took a swing at the video screen and the feed from Mr. Dickenson's office promptly went to static. Dr. Tate and Mr. Granger both sighed while Tyson's brother quietly laughed himself off the screen.

"Was he trying to hit me?" asked Xavier dubiously. He could feel prickles of amusement from Logan, Hank, and Scott, of all people. Ororo and Jean were at least appropriately surprised.

"To knock some sense into you," corrected Mr. Granger. "It's depressively effective on Tyson."

The static screen reformed into a picture though Charles was dismayed to a rather large crack distorting the image. The Elder was standing in directly in front of the screen. Behind him, Mr. Dickenson and Tyson's grandfather looked very grim.

"Mister Xavier," said the elder in very, very careful English, "I know that you are a smart man and a good man. Only a smart and good man could help the children at your school. But there are some people and other things that may take advantage of a man's smartness and goodness. At such times, it is better to wait and to watch before telling dangerous stories."

"In other words, what you don't know, can't hurt you," said Logan.

"You can still be hurt. But the chance is less," said the old man solemnly.

Xavier attempted to push away his own feeling of unease but encountered that of his senior X-men. They had all had time to assess the Blade Breakers skills and were suitably impressed. Max, Ray, and even Tyson, amazingly despite his usual temperament, were goal-oriented, worked well in teams, sought self-improvement, and performed well under pressure. Max could break down tactical schematics almost as fast as Scott. Ray's senses were nearly as developed as Logan's. Tyson had the necessary passion and drive to inspire others. As far as he knew, Dickenson had sought to form an all-star team with the Blade Breakers and had succeeded. Now they were talking to the men and women who had raised and trained those amazing children, and they were scared.

"Tyson and the rest of the little dudes will fill you in after Kai fills them in," said Tyson's grandfather. "They'll probably ask you to help if you can. All we're saying is: right now, we can't tell you. So don't ask and don't go poking around."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kai woke slowly. He was in a strange place with little clue as to how he had arrived there. It almost looked like a hospital room, but some of the equipment he saw made it look like a laboratory. Kai suppressed a shudder. In his current state an involuntary reaction like that could do a lot of damage. That thought made him realize that he was, in fact, bandaged and, judging by the lack of fever, being treated with appropriate medical care. Where was he?

Kai concentrated. The last thing he remembered was being attacked. He had thought that he might very well die—mystical aid and phoenix regenerative abilities aside. But someone, a man he had never seen before, found him and had carried him away. He remembered a motorcycle and then nothing.

So Kai had been rescued, but who had done the deed?

A door slid open and a man in a wheelchair rolled into Kai's line of sight. The young beyblader felt a flicker of astonishment. Professor Charles Xavier, headmaster of the institution known less fondly as mutant school, was staring at him with a solemn expression on his face.

Kai knew that Dranzer could keep the man out of any memories Kai did not want him to see. But the idea that someone could peer inside his head and see his thoughts made his skin crawl. He was a very private person. Even his relationships with the Blitzkrieg Boys and the Blade Breakers were very complex and subdued. But Professor Xavier, reportedly, respected human-kind in general and people in specific. Most likely he would not peer too deep into his mind without permission.

"My name is Charles Xavier, but I suspect you already know that."

Kai raised an eyebrow as if to say _Really?_ But did not comment further. His throat was too dry to make talking comfortable any way.

"You are at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Students in our infirmary. Generally, this is not used for recovering from injuries such as you have received, but the nearest hospital was too far away."

Kai closed his eyes in a resigned fashion. It was likely true though Kai did not remember exactly how wounded he had been nor how long he had been recovering. His enemy had wanted him destroyed as always.

"You have been here for two days," said the Professor quietly. "This is the first time you've regained consciousness."

Kai started and nearly sat up, but the pain in his abdomen was so great he promptly lay back down.

Professor Xavier looked deeply concerned. He probably hadn't expected Kai to be able to move at all. That was no matter. Now that he was away from danger and had rested, he should be able to draw on Dranzer's power and heal himself. He should probably do it slowly. He wouldn't want to overtax his strength when trying to heal, but he would be out of this room in days instead of the weeks anyone else would need.

"Where is my beyblade?" he asked. His throat hurt, but he needed to see Dranzer again.

The Professor narrowed his eyes. Kai thought the man was going to berate him for asking about a toy, most people would, but then he saw Dranzer float into his view then onto a still outstretched palm. Half a second later a cup and straw floated into his line of sight and Kai was able to take a sip of blessedly cool water.

"Logan, the man who rescued you and one of the professors here, remembered it this afternoon. Mr. Kon suggested that you would sleep more comfortably with your partner here. I was bringing it down."

"You mean, Ray? Ray is here?" Kai asked.

"Yes, and Tyson and Max."

Kai closed his eyes and let out as deep a sigh as he could muster. He was obviously surprised but not shocked.

"Your friends wanted to visit. But given the condition in which you arrived, we decided it would only upset them. Dr. McCoy will come back down to check on you, and he might agree to let them come down tomorrow morning. But now it is almost ten o'clock and I think you could do with some more rest," explained Xavier.

Kai made no response and his eyes remained closed. Charles could sense no more from this boy than he could from the beybladers upstairs. He suspected the child had fallen asleep and turned his wheelchair toward the door.

A gruff "thank you" reached his ears when he was nearly across the room. Xavier suppressed the urge to chuckle. It was an expression of gratitude as reluctant as any he had ever pulled from Wolverine. But it was honest and unprompted and not anything like the total bad-boy attitude he had imagined from what he had gathered online.

"You are very welcome," said Charles and shut the door behind him.

Charles paused and took a moment to look at the monitor beside the door. Kai lay still on the bed, eyes closed, and more relaxed now that Xavier was gone. The professor watched in silent amazement as the toy top, still balanced on Kai's palm, started turning on its own. A soft red light poured from the top and washed over the room. For a moment he imagined he could see a half-formed phoenix curling around the boy's head. He blinked, and the image was gone, but the light remained steady as ever, even after the boy had clearly drifted off to sleep.

Xavier grabbed his wheels and pushed himself down the hall. He needed the contact to ground himself to the here and now. He was suddenly very glad he had not pressed for more information about the dark phoenix Logan had seen. He had very little experience with the sacred or the occult considering himself a man of science. He was afraid that his students would be woefully unprepared for whatever challenge they were about to face.

As he exited the elevator and was quickly pounced upon by three too excited students, he allowed himself a small smile. At least for now he had good news to deliver.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

End.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

So yes, this has been mostly done for a while…and had (more) different stuff in it. But I didn't like it so you get the slightly shorter, hopefully better version.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

[Chapter Eleven: By Either Magic or Miracle]

Tyson was in full out babble mode. He wasn't quite as good at it as Daichi or Kenny, the Chief had a gift for gab that could be matched by few. A lot of people thought Max was the talkative one but unless he was giving an impassioned speech or explaining something Max didn't say that much. He was good for small talk, of course, but Max held very closely to the opinion that if you didn't have something nice to say, then you shouldn't say anything at all. (Max really, _really_ didn't say that much.) Ray was always good at conversation and the occasional sarcastic comeback, but he wasn't very good at making superfluous noise.

Tyson was excellent at making superfluous noise.

"So Amara, you don't know her, she's got this awesome earth-lava power and just before you came in she collapsed and we freaked out because she solid, you know, like earth. She just doesn't collapse. So Hank and Jean took her downstairs. But they all came up like ten minutes later saying she was fine. So we went back to dinner, which was awesome as always.

"Then like half-an-hour later Logan came in with you. He was all growling and stuff, like Ray when he's really, really mad you know. Except Logan doesn't clamp down on his temper like Ray does so we were all backing off except for Jean and Dr. McCoy because they're really good at medicine and stuff. But then Dragoon did this mental poke thing, so I looked closer and saw it was you! And man, that was bad because everybody started freaking out and Ray and Max and me might have had a little accident."

"Accident?" repeated Kai.

Tyson scratched his head and laughed a little bit. "Well, we've got weather powers now, and apparently they're really strong. Not for indoor use sort of strong. Anyway, when we get upset, we lose control or something. Ray fried everything upstairs that could be fried. And Max managed to flood the mansion again."

"Tyson left out the part where he formed a hurricane in the parlor," said Ray.

Tyson glared. "Yeah, that happened too. Anyway, Ms. Munroe, whose codename is Storm, has power over all weather and she was trying to stop us. But all of us doing lots of different stuff was pretty hard to stop. I think she had to give up and just focus on the hurricane cause that was threatening to go through the roof."

"I assume the mansion is still standing," said Kai.

Tyson glared at him too. Kai was supposed to be recovering not making droll comments. "Yes. Kitty, they call her Shadow Cat, can move through walls solid objects. So she made herself wind-proof or something and knocked me out. She's tiny! Like Hilary! And she knocked me out! Can you believe it?"

"Hilary can be pretty scary when she has to be," pointed out Max.

Tyson grumbled. He knew Hilary way longer than any of them. He knew better than anybody how scary she was, especially when he skipped out on cleaning duty.

"Right, so Kitty knocked me out. Then Bobby, Iceman, bet you can't guess what he does, huh? Anyway, Bobby froze all the water around Max. He went out like a light. Then all the ice disappeared. But it didn't explode like the water spout at the school, so that was good. I mean, that much ice exploding could have done some serious damage. So I was down and Max was down. So Ms. Munroe decided to snap Ray out of him by shocking him with lightning. That didn't really work too well 'cause they both exploded. Sort of. They blasted each other into the wall or something. But it knocked out Ray, so I guess you could call it a success.

"Then the next day, we tried to ask about you but Professor Xavier said you were stable and couldn't have any visitors. I guess he was trying to keep us from freaking out again. Not like we didn't have any idea that something was wrong. I mean, you were covered in blood and so was Logan. But all we got do was clean up some and go to school." Tyson made a face as an afterthought.

Kai rolled his eyes while Max and Ray laughed consolingly. He was now doubly glad that he had hid his chart this morning before the three of them showed up. They had all learned to read medical charts in Russia while Ray was in the hospital. Max and Tyson were too nice to keep bothering nurses when they wanted to know Ray's condition. So Max, who had a pretty good grasp of charts thanks to his mother, made Kai translate and then explained everything to the two of them. Max had usually explained Kai's chart to Tyson during his brief stay in the hospital after the BEGA match. But he had caught Tyson reading it once or twice on his own when he thought Kai was asleep.

The stark details on the chart confirmed that he would have died if he had not received outside help. Nearly every bone in his body had cracked under extreme force. Most of the muscles in his arms and legs were ripped to shreds. His liver and kidneys were on the verge of failure. His stomach and intestines had been sliced open. Even his lungs showed signs of scarring. His heart and spinal column were intact, but that was because Dranzer had known to concentrate its healing energies there. Phoenixes could regenerate from any wound, even death. While someone like Kai, who was in contract with a powerful phoenix spirit, could recover from injuries that might kill others, for a human death was death. It didn't help that Dranzer was hurt almost as badly as Kai.

"So," said Tyson. "I take it things have been business as usual for you."

It was a prompt. Tyson had been talking forever recounting his entire stay at the mansion. Max and Ray had thrown in the occasional comment on stuff that Tyson hadn't actually been present to see. Anyone who might have been listening in would undoubtedly be bored to tears and confused by the less than linear discussion. There might not even be anyone listening in, but Kai believed in taking precautions. Some part of him was pleased that Tyson was willing to appease his sense of paranoia.

"This summer has been unusually busy," said Kai.

"I'll bet," muttered Tyson.

"What's kept you so busy?" asked Max.

"Chasing rumors," said Kai.

It wasn't the whole truth, obviously. But it wasn't a lie either.

"Looks like those rumors got a little rough," said Ray. "Care to share?"

"Maybe later," said Kai studiously ignoring the frowns his friends sent his way.

"Typical Kai," said Max. "So are you sticking around?"

Kai sighed and closed his eyes. His friends had confirmed without a doubt that Xavier's people were good people. He didn't mind so much falling asleep here. Taking an extra day or two to recover would ease some of the burden on Dranzer even if it would suspicious for his wounds to slow their healing in this stage.

"Guess so," he said.

"Excellent!" enthused Max.

Kai opened his eyes and stared at Max. He had never heard that particular note of desperation in Max's voice before.

"What's up?" he asked.

Max's grin wilted. Ray and Tyson exchanged a look over his head. Kai waited. Clearly, something was wrong.

"I'm still having trouble with my powers. I keep getting knocked unconscious and Dr. McCoy is worried that if doesn't stop that I might not wake up again," he explained.

Kai felt a twinge of alarm and saw it echoed on his friends faces. Apparently Max hadn't told them how bad the situation was. He frowned and tried to work the relevant information out of Tyson's babble.

"I think we can work on that," he said finally.

Max and Ray both grinned.

"Alright!" said Tyson.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kitty glanced around one final time before plopping down onto the bleachers and stealing one of Lance's nachos. Her not-boyfriend scoffed but she saw him smile out of the corner of her eye. He was tough on the outside but nice on the inside. It was part why she liked Lance, despite their less than awesome beginning, not every girl could snag the tough guy and the teddy bear. Not that most people noticed the teddy bear part, which was a little bit sad to her, but his scary attitude kept away most of the competition making their not-quite-dating relationship a whole lot easier to maintain.

"It's almost like you don't want to be seen with me," he said.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "I just don't want Jean or Kurt or any of the new mutants to see me with you. They'll freak out and get me grounded or double rounds in the danger room or something. Everyone else is okay."

Lance tried to hide his grin and failed miserably. He had to result to the old hiding behind the hair trick. Sometimes she wondered if that was why he kept his hair long or if he just liked it. She didn't ask though. No way Lance would talk about something that emotional with her, yet. Kitty was patient when she needed to be and pretty clever. One day she might be able to break all the way through his shell.

"What's new in the big house?" asked Lance. "Pietro's been pestering me about that kid for a week. He wants to know when he'll start fighting with you guys."

Kitty frowned. "I'm not sure if Tyson will join the x-men or not. He and Max, and Ray too but I don't think you've met him, are all pretty cool guys, but none of them seem to like fighting very much." She grimaced then patted her face to smooth out the wrinkles. "They like to compete. Maybe if Pietro challenged him to a race or something. But they're all pretty important in the non-mutant community."

"He's one of those beyblading people, right?" asked Lance.

"Yeah, how did you know?" asked Kitty in surprise.

Lance smirked a little—the closest he got to a real smile in public—and explained, "When we got back, we told the guys what happened. Todd freaked out and started reciting all these weird stats. It took twenty minutes for him to calm down."

Kitty chuckled, she reserved giggling for mocking boys only, and cast him a speculative look. "So Todd follows beyblade?"

"He's just like a kid, you know, about nearly everything. I've watched a match or two with him and he bounces the couch like mad. The big tournaments are really cool with all the light shows."

Kitty quietly ignored with wistful expression on his face. It was cute and he'd frown if she said anything about it. Then she frowned and thought about what he had just told her. Something didn't sound quite right.

"Light shows?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Lance eyed her oddly, "they add in all those light to make it look like the blades are actually fighting. Sometimes they get cut-off on our set but in person they must look awesome. I guess they can't do that for all the tournaments but they always have them at the big ones."

Kitty gave into her natural urges and smacked herself in the forehead. The kids at the Institute had been to the American qualifying tournament the year before and been totally blown away by the battles. Then just last week Max had so casually mentioned that they had never met so many people who could see bit-beasts but weren't actual beybladers. She had intended to ask what he meant, but the conversation shifted to something about a girl named Hilary and invisible bit-beasts and eventually degraded to Japanese, which she most definitely had not been able to follow.

"What is it?" asked Lance.

"They aren't light shows," said Kitty quickly.

"What?" Lance sounded a bit bewildered.

"They aren't light shows. Those images on TV are actual bit-beasts. I borrowed the professor's book about them. They're supposed to be some sort of spirit," she explained. "They're very, very real."

"Real?" repeated Lance faintly.

Kitty nodded. "You know what? Those guys love showing off and the professor kind of forbade them from going all out on the grounds after Max and Ray totally trashed a training area. But I bet, if I asked nice, they'd be willing to have a match at school or in a park somewhere. Probably a park, we wouldn't want Kelly to kick us out again. They'll need a distraction anyway."

"Really?" asked Lance.

She sighed a little. "Yeah, Logan found this friend of theirs, Kai, I guess you've heard of him, and he was hurt real bad. He's awake and talking now, but they've all been a little stressed out."

Lance was shaking his head. "I mean, they'd really have a match just to show us?"

The way he said 'us' took Kitty by surprise. He was talking about the Brotherhood, she knew that, but even they didn't deserve that level of scorn. They could do stupid stuff sometimes, were never stellar examples of hygiene, and sometimes let Magneto or Mystique lead them by the nose, but otherwise they were okay guys.

"Yeah, of course," stammered Kitty. "I'll ask when we get back."

She nodded once and leaned more firmly against Lance, staring down at the football game. Next weekend was Homecoming and there was no way she could convince Lance to take her to that. Maybe she could convince them to have mutant homecoming or something and invite the Brotherhood. Tabitha would definitely go for it. She could probably convince Rogue if they managed to track down that Cajun thief. She might even be able to slide it past Scott if it gave him the chance to dance with Jean. And the professor was all about building bridges. They could make the danger room into a ball room. Yeah, she could work with this.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

End.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

I love working in plot ideas better than I imagined them. This really sets up the next chapter, which you can expect to be much longer, quite nicely. Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I own neither Beyblade nor X-Men: Evolution nor do I make any profit from this story.

[Chapter Twelve: In the Morning I Awake]

Max waved good-bye as a train of cars pulled out of Institution drive way. Practically everyone had wanted to see a battle between Ray and Tyson. Xavier had nearly been convinced to let them fight on the grounds. But Kitty had revealed that she wanted the Brotherhood to see them battle. Apparently, Todd Tolansky, a kid he had only seen once or twice at school, was a huge fan, Pietro wanted to talk to Tyson some more, and Kitty, of course, wanted to hang out with Lance under non-battle, non-school conditions. Ultimately the desire to see world-class bladers in action outweighed the rivalry between the teenage mutants

The next challenge had been to see who would actually get to fight. They were going to attract attention no matter where they went. Tyson and Kai had managed to destroy a special designed beydish in the last world tournament. They would only get one battle in, if that, before other people started showing up. Tyson obviously want a chance to duke it out with somebody. Ray and Max were debating the pro and cons of having a smaller battle to determine who would fight him when Kai appeared out of nowhere scaring them all half to death.

Kai shouldn't have been out of bed much less walking around. Technically, he should have been in an intensive care unit on the brink of death—Max had managed to snag Kai's chart once and quickly hidden it before Tyson could see—but Kai never quite matched anyone's expectations. He had a very serious look on his face that made Max worry. If Kai said he was up to battling Tyson, then he would battle Tyson one way or another. Either the excitable dragon-master would forget that Kai was injured and accept the challenge, or he would refuse and Kai would let-it-rip in the middle in the living room and possibly destroy the mansion.

But Kai managed to surprise them yet again. He suggested, quite calmly, that Ray and Tyson should be the ones to battle and that Max should stay at the mansion to train with him. Then he not-so-subtly insinuated that Tyson would be a terrible distraction and would only get in the way. Max had grinned at Ray, who looked both excited about his upcoming match and upset about having to fight a pissed off Tyson.

"Let's go," murmured Kai drawing Max from his reverie.

"Lead the way," said Max.

Rather than going all the way through the mansion, Kai walked around it. Max walked beside him not entirely succeeding at hiding his amusement. Storm had remained behind in order to observe their practice. Kai was clearly trying to avoid this oversight.

They stopped at a flat, grassy spot about thirty feet away from the edge of the cliff. A breeze caught the edge of Kai's scarf, which streamed away from him in an elegant arc. Mr. Dickenson had had the foresight to send an extra bag with Tyson and his grandfather that just so happened to contain several changes of clothes, Kai's I.D. card and passport, and container of face paint. It appeared they were becoming predictable with this catastrophe stuff.

"You're not going to push me off or anything, right?" asked Max.

Kai snorted then winced. His healing muscles not quite ready for that much force. "No. Maybe if Tyson wants to try flying."

"You think he'll be able to do that?" asked Max.

"It's possible. Not soon but if things keep going the way they are…"

Kai trailed off still not ready to explain what was going on. He met Max's concerned gaze without flinching. Kai was especially known for his resistance of puppy dog eyes, but none of the Blade Breakers were known for giving up. Not Daichi. Not even Kenny or Hilary.

"Later," said Kai. "I'll tell you later. What do you know about meditation?"

Max scratched his nose. "Not very much. Just that you sit still and try not to think of anything."

Kai's lips twitched. He was trying so very hard not to smile. Max thought they had finally broken him of his habit of showing almost no emotion even with his friends. Clearly he had regressed over the summer.

"Launch Draciel between you and the bay. Then find a comfortable position and close your eyes," instructed Kai. "You don't need to send it off the cliff."

Max laughed quietly and did as he was told, sinking into a cross-legged position. He didn't mind kneeling, but if they were going to be there a while he didn't want his legs to get numb.

"You said that meditating was thinking about nothing. And sometimes that's true. But you're going to be thinking about your connection to Draciel. It's always there hovering in the back of your mind. In battle, the connection is larger than life. Impossible to ignore. But now it's quiet, waiting for you to find it."

Max let Kai's voice wash over him. Normally he would be stunned to hear the stoic beyblader say so much, but Kai reserved his words for when they were important. It was black behind Max's eyelids, blacker than he knew it should be. He raised a hand and realized he couldn't see it.

_Perhaps, it's better that I don't have hands_, thought Max, _I don't have to walk around looking. I can just be everywhere at once and find Draciel that way._

Just like that Max expanded filling the cavernous black. Occasionally bits of him ran across different points of light. They were his connections to his friends, his opponents, his rivals, his enemies. He found a warm yellow dot that led to his father. Not too far away, or perhaps very far after all, he found a white dot that led to his mother.

He paused there beside the white dot. It was warm, like the yellow dot, but at the same time it was also very cold. His mother loved him. But the scientist loved nothing. Science was objective. Max wondered if he could follow it to his mother, if she would notice him then. A smaller part of him wonder what would happen if he crushed it. Would he feel better if he didn't care about her? If he didn't care, then it wouldn't hurt when she abandoned him to science. But he wouldn't be able to feel her love either.

"Find your connection with Draciel," urged Kai. "Follow it."

Max moved on abandoning those thoughts and collided with a glowing blue-green disc. He raised his hand, in the soft glow he had hands and a body and was himself again, and pressed his palm flat against the shining connection. The glow intensified and Max squeezed his eyes shut to avoid being blinded.

When he opened them again, he was somewhere else. And he was underwater. Max wasn't afraid. He didn't need to breathe wherever he was and everything was so beautiful. There were tiny fish darting to and fro, glinting in light from a distant sun. Starfish crawled along the seabed. Fronds of seaweed waved in the current. He followed the tide and found coral reefs thriving with life, sharks hunting in packs, deep abysses with glowing fish, and underwater mountains. This was the place that he and Draciel made together, a place for their minds to meet outside of the physical realm.

Eventually Max noticed something that didn't belong to him or Draciel. It was something above the surface of this mental ocean. Max angled up and kicked his feet once, twice. His head broke through into open air. Looking up he could the moon and sun hanging in the sky so much closer than they could have been in reality. Further out storms brewed on the horizon releasing torrential downpours back into the ocean. He looked back over his shoulder and saw one of many pristine sand bars. Unlike the others, this one had a fiery-red figure resting casually on the sand.

"Have a nice swim?" called Kai.

Max walked up to him, unsure if there had always been sand beneath his feet or if it had appeared for his convenience. Neither possibility worried him.

"Why aren't I blue?" asked Max.

"Do you usually see yourself as blue?" asked Kai. "This is your head."

Max shook his head. "No. But then why are you red and flaming?"

"I'm astral projecting into your head with the help of Dranzer's power. Phoenixes are made of fire. So right now, I am too," said Kai.

"Good to know," said Max.

"Do you know why you're here?" asked Kai.

Max looked out at the ocean. "This my power. Mine and Draciel's. This is where it waits until we call it. I tried this before, you know, connecting with Draciel to control my own power. It didn't work."

"Maybe you didn't believe it could work," said Kai. "It's easier when someone helps you find it. Look up there."

Kai pointed at the sky. The moon and sun filled the entire sky. Max felt his mouth go dry. There was power in the celestial bodies. The power to control the tide. He could feel it pressing on him. He pushed back and the pressure stopped.

"The reason you're getting tired and hyper-active in waves is because you're letting the moon and the sun, the real ones, control your power. When bit-beasts don't have a partner, they're ruled by nature. But now you're here. Those," he pointed again, "are yours. Yours and Draciel's. You control your power. Draciel will help you. It will be a struggle to fight the Sun and the Moon. You'll have to buckle in and refuse to yield. But I've got a feeling you can't do it."

Max stared at him dumbstruck. Finally he smiled, a huge, sunny, real smile. "Thanks, Kai. I appreciate it."

Kai grunted. "We need to leave so you can practice getting back here."

"How do I get back?" asked Max.

Kai smirked at him. "Just open your eyes," he said and winked out of existence.

Max rolled his eyes. Always the dramatist was Kai. He shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he was back in his body staring at the bay. Draciel was still spinning but as Max watched it slowed down finally falling over and coming to a stop. He looked at Kai, who was leaning against a tree, and did a double take.

"Why are you so wet?" he asked.

Kai glared at him in mild reproach. "I was waiting for you to show up. That's how you found the connection so fast. When you fell into your mindscape, you splashed into the ocean and caused a tidal wave. I got soaked there."

"But you weren't wet there," said Max.

"I was an astral projection made of fire," said Kai.

Max conceded the point. He was pretty new at all this mental stuff. He started stretching out his stiff muscles. They had been sitting for almost two hours. "How did you know what to do anyway?"

"The same thing happened to Stephen, but Tala sorted it out and told me how," Kai said and paled instantly.

Max nearly fell over from shock. "This happened to the Blitzkrieg Boys first?"

"Boris encouraged it along," said Kai quietly. "It really shouldn't have happened to them or you, except for Tala."

Max pushed himself up and marched over to Kai. He knelt and found his teammate's eyes. "No one else is here. Tell me what is happening."

Kai sighed and looked away. "There is something very evil in this world that the sacred spirits are capable of fighting with the help of a human partner. They follow a cycle. This time the burden fell on Dranzer, but after Black Dranzer happened it became obvious that we could not win on our own. So Wolborg's power woke as the next part of the cycle. Then Boris' experiments on Tala interfered with their connection, so the ability started spreading to the others. First it was the Blitzkrieg Boys, probably because Tala and I were there, but now it's moved to you and Tyson and Ray because you're so strong."

Not the most descriptive summary in the world, decided Max. But it was more information that he had had before. Obviously talking about the situation made Kai uncomfortable. He no doubt blamed himself and his time before the Blade Breakers was already so twisted. The Blitzkrieg Boys would have felt uncomfortable too. No one talked to them about their time in the abbey. But Max had read some of the files his mother's labs had confiscated from Boris' research and had had nightmares for weeks.

"What about Daichi?" asked Max. "Why isn't he here too?"

"Daichi's too young. He hasn't had his bit-beast long enough and his connection isn't as strong. But if things continue the way they are…"

He trailed off again, but now Max could fill in the blank. "If things continue the way things are, then we'll just get stronger and more beybladers will be affected."

"That's right," said Kai.

"I don't understand why you couldn't have told us this sooner," said Max. "Don't do it again."

He stood and offered Kai an arm up, which the other boy accepted. They started walking back to the mansion. Kai grimaced at the strain and Max slowed down without comment.

"If I had known you guys were showing symptoms, then I would have mentioned it," said Kai.

"But otherwise you would have said nothing?" asked Max. "What if you had died?"

"That would be bad," said Kai in an emotionless way that Max found very perplexing. "You would've wanted to help, but you'd just be in the way."

_In danger_, translated Max's brain. Just like Tyson being there earlier might have been dangerous. Kai got wet inside Max's head, but what if he had been struck by lightning instead? Or if Max had lost grip on his powers and the tide washed away the cliff face?

Kai stopped in his tracks and Max stopped with him. His eyes weren't quite focused, or rather they were focused on something so distant it was impossible to see. Concerned, Max leaned in closer. But suddenly Kai was moving. He pushed Max away, took two steps, and exploded into flame leaving nothing behind.

Max scrambled to his feet, taking one last look at the spot where Kai had been, and raced to the mountain.

"Ms. Munroe! Professor Xavier! I think we have a problem."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Scott turned off the engine and left his car. In the back of mind, the thought that this meeting might not be a bad idea was tentatively edging into existence. The Brotherhood only caused trouble when they were bored. They were definitely outnumbered by kids from the Institute plus Wolverine was here while Mystique was not. Kitty promised they would be on their best behavior, if only because Todd would be totally depressed at missing the chance to see real beybladers in action and no one wanted a depressed Toad.

"Summers," said Lance.

"Alvers," acknowledged Scott.

After that Kitty took over grabbing hold of Lance's arm and pulling him the rest of the way to Tyson and Ray. They exchanged introductions with the rest of the Brotherhood and were totally cool with it when Todd asked them to sign some sort of pamphlet he had.

"They have these programs that all the competitors and their stats and stuff. I always get the guys to sign mine," said Tyson.

"It has been three years and he still does it," said Ray. "Lee asked me if you keep losing them and that is why you ask every time."

"Only the championships!" protested Tyson.

"That must be awesome," said Fred. "Getting to travel around the world and compete."

"You are so right, man!" said Tyson. "I love it. You get to see all this cool stuff, meet the best people, and everywhere has great food!"

"Oh no!" said Ray. "If Tyson starts talking about the food, we will never get the match started."

An expression of perfect horror crept over Todd's face. Scott had to bite his tongue not to laugh. He heard a few low chuckles from Logan, who had no such restraint. Todd bounced on to Fred's back and grabbed hold of his shoulders.

"Food talk later!" he insisted.

"Right, right," agreed Fred.

"There's a fairly flat spot with no grass about ten minutes that way," said Scott pointing over his left shoulder. "Max said that was ideal."

"Yeah," agreed Tyson as the group started moving, "grass isn't too bad but it's harder to clean out of the gears."

"Harder than dust?" asked Scott.

"Dust is just dust," said Tyson. "You can dunk a beyblade in a cleaning solution and it comes right off. It's too small to mess with anything anyway. But if grass gets in your gears you have to take it all apart and get all the fibers off. If you're beyblade is really fast the gears will catch fire if there is dry grass inside."

"Personal experience?" asked Scott.

"The Chief was so mad at me. Grandpa was too even though we only had to replace one screen and the floor was fine," said Tyson.

"You set something on fire and your gramps didn't toss you out?" asked Fred.

"Grandpa? No way. I'd have to do something way worse than that. I just had to put the screen in and got a lecture. And he hit me over the head with his practice sword but he does that all the time."

Scott blinked and glanced over at Ray. The other teen caught the movement and nodded slightly. Tyson was telling the truth and he was getting the Brotherhood to relax at the same time. Well, as relaxed as they could be when they were so excited. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or nervous. Jean took his arm and his stomach settled on nervous

"Hey, is this it?" asked Tyson, when they immerged in a small clearing.

"Good spot on short notice," grunted Logan. "Away from the road, decent cover, doesn't connect to any other trails, not a place where couples hook up."

"You might want to stay on the edge but not right under the trees," suggested Ray. "They fall down from time to time."

"Awesome!" said Jamie and Todd together.

Kitty, Scott was amused to note, took this as silent permission to move even closer to Lance. If anyone was to be safe from falling trees, it was Kitty and whoever stood next to her.

Ray and Tyson took position across from each other. They were standing much farther apart than Ray and Max had during their big match.

"3,…"

"2,…"

"1…Let it rip!"

They launched their beyblades in unison. The ground was hard packed here even if not that many people came by, when the blades touched down they zipped away without raising a speck of dust. Just as fast they circled around crashed into each other then darted away again following their masters' commands.

This match was slower, Scott decided. Max and Ray's match at the mansion had only taken ten minutes and this one had been going for nearly five already. There was a lot more circling too. Building up speed, he realized. The ground at the mansion was slope and they were able to bounce off the beydish, but now the beyblades were nearly as fast as they had been when Max and Ray got started.

Apparently, Ray decided the same thing. "Show him who boss Drigger! Up the tree!"

Drigger, which had been on other collision course with Dragoon, darted to the right and raced up a tree then along a branch.

"Use Tiger Fang!"

"Dodge it, Dragoon!"

Dragoon zipped out of the way. Drigger's attack left a small impact crater in the dirt.

"Going old school, huh? Alright, Dragoon, use Storm Attack!"

Ray's eyes narrowed his pupils tightening to slits. "Move with the hurricane, Drigger!"

The beyblade followed the whirling winds using them to gain speed until it was moving at much faster pace than Dragoon.

"What? Oh no! Stop, Dragoon!"

Ray grinned. "Alright! Come out, Drigger! Use Vulcan Claw!"

"You too, Dragoon! Galaxy Storm!"

Beams of light poured from the two blades. A fierce dragon and massive tiger crashed in the air as the beyblades collided on the ground. Everyone was cheering, filling the clearing with noise. The trees tops whipped back and forth in the high winds.

"Gattling Claw!"

"Try to dodge, Dragoon. Then hit back with Phantom Hurricane."

"Don't get caught, Drigger!"

Dragoon dodged the Gattling Claw, but Drigger was clipped by Phantom Hurricane and started to wobble. Thunder rumbled in sky like an angry cat.

"Steady there, Drigger," called Ray.

"Dragoon! Finish him off with Hyper Victory Tornado!"

"Counter with Thunder Slash!"

Both beyblades jumped off trees to gain height. Lightning crashed down in the center of the clearing while a whirlwind rose and dispersed just as fast. When the dust settled Dragoon was circling a large charred spot and Drigger was nowhere to be seen.

"Alright!" said Tyson. "Good work, Dragoon."

The beyblade slapped into Tyson's open palm. Ray and Tyson shook hands.

"Nice match, Tyson."

"Good match, Ray."

"That was awesome!" said Todd hopping up and down. "Way cool!

"What happened to Drigger?" asked Kitty.

Tyson and Ray both pointed to one of the smaller trees in the clearing. Lodged firmly in the spruce was Drigger. Ray walked over to and placed a steadying foot on the tree and yanked. He stumbled back, beyblade grasped firmly in hand, but the poor tree shuddered, and the top half slowly fell back into the forest.

"Whoa. You weren't kidding about the trees," said Tabitha. "Is it okay?"

"Drigger is fine," said Ray. "It is harder to get it out of the concrete wall around Tyson's house."

Before anyone could say anything in response to this incredible statement, Tyson's stomach rumbled. Loudly.

"Aw. I'm so hungry."

Scott shook his head silently while Logan let out another rumbling laugh.

"Chuck gave me a card and said we could go for pizza," said Wolverine.

The air was filled with elation and tension all at once. It frizzled. The kids were all hungry. No one would ever turn down pizza. But the Brotherhood didn't want to accept charity.

"Come on, Lance, please?" asked Kitty.

"I don't know," he said warily.

"Looks like Lance is too chicken to go on date with Scott and Logan looking over his shoulder," said Rogue just a touch too loudly for a whisper.

Lance glared at her and stiffened.

"Should just think of it as pulling a fast one on the prof," said Tabitha. "You get free food and you know it's going to cost a bundle if tubby eats his fill."

"Hey!" protested Fred and Tyson.

They stared at each other in surprise. Tyson hung his head and sighed. "Man, she sounds just like Hilary. Well, you've got to go now. This way we can talk about all the awesome food everywhere and not get hungry!"

Scott shrugged. "Well, if they don't want to come, then we can't make them come," he said and turned around.

"Of course, we're coming!" cried Pietro. "Last one there's a rotten egg!"

Something blurred by Scott.

"Ah! My hat!"

Something else blurred by Scott.

"Was that Tyson?" he asked.

"I think Tyson will eat three pizzas, possibly four," said Ray.

The group of mutants was halfway to the pizza parlor from the park when Pietro caught up with them again. He was now wearing the hat and grinning like a loon. Half a minute later Tyson appeared on the horizon.

"He's not even tired," he said to the group in the convertible.

Ray thought about it for a moment. "I think the kidnappers had him running around for more than an hour but he was going slower. I don't really remember. But if you reach the pizza place again, let him stop. Using Dragoon uses a lot of energy."

"What kidnappers?" demanded Pietro.

"My hat!" yelled Tyson.

Pietro speeded up again and the angry Tyson raced after them. Scott sighed and wished faintly that he didn't know people who could keep pace with a car at thirty-five miles an hour.

Five minutes later, they arrived at the pizza parlor and saw Tyson and Pietro sitting inside. Tyson having successfully reclaimed his hat. The rest of the kids trooped inside and started pushing tables together. A few nervous waiters came by to take their orders. The big hitters were Fred, who ordered ten various x-large pizzas, Tyson, who ordered four large Supremes, and Ray, who ordered two large pizzas with anchovies, goat cheese, and mushrooms. Everyone else got things to split.

"Seriously, you look like a cat and you're ordering anchovy pizza?" demanded Tabitha. "Way to give into a cliché."

"I like anchovies," said Ray mildly.

Scott had two slices of vegetarian pizza and then settled back to people watch. Most of the customers had left once they saw who, exactly, was storming the shop. But Scott thought watching the X-men and the Brotherhood was more fun anyway and more informative. They seemed to be having a pretty good time. The girls were giggling together, which in Scott's opinion was never a good sign, except for Kitty, who was talking about applied physics in vehicles with Lance, and Rahne, a younger mutant who could change into a wolf, who was in deep conversation with Kurt and Todd.

Todd was known, among other things, for his unusual body odor. But now that Scott thought about it neither Kurt nor Rahne ever commented on it. They, like Logan and Dr. McCoy, had some of the most sensitive noses in the Institute. Scott had considered learning to read lips after Xavier had given him his sight and his life back. It was a useless skill if he ever lost his glasses, so he decided against it. On the other hand, his hearing was excellent, almost on par with Logan's, and could be quite selective if he forced it. Curiosity was an excellent reason to force it.

"Are you sure?" demanded Todd.

"He's from China," insisted Rahne.

"That don't mean nothing, yo. Sabertooth could have had kids anywhere."

"I already asked him about it," said Kurt. "He said most of the people in his village looked and smelled like he did."

"Besides Sabertooth's a mutant. There's no guarantee his kid would have a mutation remotely similar to his," said Rahne.

"Guess Sabertooth don't smell like lightning anyway," Todd said finally. His eyes widened. "Unless he and Munroe had kid."

Scott grimaced at the mental image and switched his attention out the window just in time to see a handful of sparkling balls pass over the skyline.

"Magneto!" he yelled.

Mutants scrambled to their feet and poured out of the pizza shop into the street. Breaks screeched as what traffic there was slammed to a standstill. The handful of humans still hanging around the area took off.

Scott surveyed the scene with a calloused eye. The more experienced X-men had established a line of defense. The newer students were behind them, scared but determined. The Brotherhood were clustered together off to one side. They looked confused and conflicted, no surprise there. Without orders from Mystique, Scott was hoping they would decide to leave. Pietro usually followed his father's lead, but Scott knew Lance resented Magneto's use-'em-up-spit-'em-out tactics.

Magneto's gaze swept over the assembled mutants. He paused and stared into the midst of the Institute's students. Scott followed his line of sight to Tyson and Ray. They both looked warily cautious, they had heard something of Magneto and his Acolytes, but they were not in a position to fight. Not that they could control their powers enough to be of any use. Then Scott recalled Ray's earlier statement about pulling Drigger out of a concrete wall and couldn't decided if he feeling relief or panic.

"You expect these two to hinder my plans?" asked Magneto sounding incredulous.

Scott didn't start per se so much as suppress a shudder of horror at the thought that Magneto could now read minds. Then he realized that the older mutant was addressing Mastermind in reference to some previous conversation.

The mutant started to nodded his head furiously. "If you do not do away with them, none of our plans will be realized."

Scott swiveled his gaze back to Ray and Tyson. Both boys looked surprised and curious. They were clearly tense and becoming stiffer by the moment, but he had never seen someone look quite so nonchalant in the face death. Then Tyson said something to Ray, who nodded, and suddenly they looked entirely too grim for students who, as far as he knew, had never had to fight for their lives.

"What do you mean the short one feels wrong?" demanded Logan.

"He does not feel like a normal person," said Tyson. "There is something else like a shadow on top of him."

"Darkness," agreed Ray solemnly. "Evil."

Several things happened at once. Mastermind let out a cry and, shoving Magneto aside, launched himself at Ray and Tyson trailing black ooze. Mutants darted out of the way. Ray and Tyson started off down the street, Ray actually jumping over cars so as not to present a unified target. Wolverine and Sabertooth fell into their usual feral not-death-match. And Kai Hiwatari, who the last time Scott has seen him looked like death on a stick, flamed into existence above the street. A sound not unlike the screech of an eagle echoed impressively along the street.

Hiwatari dove straight at Mastermind knocking him down and cracking the pavement. In an unusual show of strength, Mastermind shoved the younger mutant off and into the hood of a car. They both stood up and entered unfamiliar battle stances. There was a scuffle of sorts. Kai shot flames at Mastermind. Mastermind flung ooze and illusions, if the sparkling lights in the edges of Scott's eyes were any indication. Hiwatari just shook his head and made his flame hotter.

A bit of slime landed on Kai's face. He grimace and made a white-hot fiery shield with one hand as the other reached back to burn the sludge off his face. Scott didn't know exactly what it was, but if Hiwatari was willing to stop his offensive push, then Scott did not want any of the students near it. He started moving forward, pulling the younger students away, and seeing Jean do the same.

A muted whack drew Scott attention. Kai stood straddling Mastermind, who had somehow been knocked to the ground. One of Kai's hands was wreathed in flames and he bared down with his full weight behind the blow. It took half a second for Scott to realize Kai was going for a killing shot, even less time for him to decide to let it go. On the other hand Jean was not quite so willing.

"No," she said urgently.

Kai didn't stop, but he did stutter, slowing down ever so slightly. That brief hesitation was enough for Mastermind. He opened his mouth and darkness spewed out of his head. Ears, nose, eyes, mouth, from every opening a wave of black like knives poured out and slammed into Kai's chest. He was able to get one arm in a guard position, however little good it did him. Hiwatari flew through the air, his body following the arc of a near perfect parabola, slammed into the ground, and lay still.

There were two agonized shouts of "Kai!" and Scott saw the two Blade Breakers race to their fallen comrade. Scott looked around. Magneto had disappeared leaving Mastermind to his fate. LeBeau had stuck around, even though his transport had disappeared, and was very carefully making his way toward the mutant's still form. Scott followed him and stopped far enough away not to threaten the thief. It wasn't as though he was much of a threat to the man anyway.

"Have you ever seen anything like it before?" asked Scott.

Gambit looked up, his red-on-black eyes staring into Cyclops' red shades. "Non," he said, "Not the worst voodoo in the delta ever made something like this. He's not dead, but I'm not sure he ever gonna wake up."

Scott knew it was serious when LeBeau used personal pronouns. Rogue had referred to herself in the third person for a week after her encounter with the cagey thief. Nightcrawler teleported to Scott's side before he could ask what they would do with the body.

"Logan wants the keys to the car," he said. His accent more pronounced in his distress.

Scott handed them over without a thought. There was a reason he kept rebuilding the darn thing despite all the damage it took. Its more than slightly illegal engine could get the wounded Kai to the mansion faster than anything other than Quicksilver, without the added distress of getting someone covered in all that black ooze.

"You going to stick around?" asked Scott. "Or are you going to be alone when that thing comes back?"

Gambit grimaced and slid his gaze toward the Brotherhood. "There's plenty of folk who need watching, kid. Worry about them. Let Remy take care of himself."

Scott nodded once and backed off. Gambit would be fine. He'd probably take care of the body for them too, since Wolverine had raced back to the mansion with Kai. Scott was the field leader of the X-men and right now, he had some kids to comfort.

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End.

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Long chapter is long.

In regards to Scott Summer's character: in X-men Evolution, Cyclops' background is pretty open ended. He's an orphan and he has a brother, who he was separated from, and that's about all you get. In other canons, Scott was placed into the foster care system and ended up in an orphanage where he was experimented on by a guy called Mr. Sinister. He can't control his powers because he has a brain injury (which is sometimes retconned into a mental block). He's also very good at math, especially spatial geometry a.k.a. calculating angles, which allows him to bounce his energy beams off different surfaces. He's also a really awesome leader when he is not moping about Jean being dead. These issues are apparently too intense for a kid's show. For the purposes of this story, I assume that these traits still apply for the most part, which means his character is "darker on the inside." It's not so noticeable from other characters' perspectives but from his it makes a whole lot of difference.

In regards to Max Tate/Mizuharu's character: most fanfiction portrays Max as a super-peppy, hyperactive, and somewhat sinister sugar addict. In the actual show, especially the first season, which this story is strongly based off of, the Blade Breakers are the _best_ in Japan with lots of experience (excluding Tyson) and a very serious desire to prove themselves. Furthermore, Max has a lot of conflict with his mom. Max _knows_ his mom loves him, but does not believe she is proud of him or impressed with his beyblading skills, which will negatively impact a child's psyche even though they do "make-up" in the show. (Also, given that Boris and Voltaire think using beyblades to take over the world would actually work, any scientific work improving beyblades and beybladers is probably pretty important to the government, which is why I included that in a previous chapter.) Max is polite and optimistic, but he is not an idiot.

Alright ranting/explication finished. Hope you enjoyed it.


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